class - Regis College

He’d like to work at the
office, but the commute
is a bit prohibitive—a
26-hour plane ride.
So he does most of his
work by email and phone.
photo: Kathleen Dooher
Nop is gracious and polite, traits he learned
from his doting mother and at Lowell Catholic
High School. Nop came to the U.S. six years
ago, when his mother visited cousins in
Massachusetts. She loved it so much, she decided
she wanted her son to come and study here. She
chose a Catholic high school because “she loved
the uniforms,” Nop laughed. Once she got more
information on the school, she was sold.
“Most mothers come home from a trip with a
T-shirt,” Nop said. “My mother came home with
a high school and new place to live.”
He lived with his mother’s cousin and when
his older brother moved from Cambodia to attend
Middlesex Community College, the two got
an apartment together. (His brother attended
English as a Second Language classes there and
now attends UMass Lowell.) Nop might have
attended a state school as well, but going to a
school like Regis was a home away from home.
Nop learned more about Regis when a friend visited
Regis because of the tennis team. The team
has become a big part of his Regis experience, not
just because it’s fun, but also because it’s helped
him academically.
“He’s really committed,” says tennis coach
John Ciarleglio. “He rarely misses practice and is
one of the most improved of the team. I’m really
proud of Sophorn for his grades.”
As the academic year comes to a close, Nop
has begun to think he will take a year off after
graduation and use that time to travel and submit
applications to graduate schools. He would
like to eventually go back to Cambodia and help
his parents, and perhaps even open his own shop
someday, even though it will mean he will be as
busy as he is now. But that won’t pose a problem.
“I don’t know what to do with free time,” he says.