Hanoi (VNA) – George School of the US was honoured in Hanoi on June 21 with a certificate of merit of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organisations (VUFO).

At the ceremony, the “For Peace and Friendship among Nations” insignia of the VUFO was presented to Ralph Lelii, Cheryl Mellor and Carter Sio for their contributions to the establishment and development of the partnership between the US school and the Vietnam-US Society (VUS).

Presenting the certificate and insignia to the school and its leaders, VUFO Vice President Don Tuan Phong noted that after the first delegation of George School travelled to Vietnam with the support of the VUS in June 1996 to bolster the Vietnam-US relations, many teachers and students from the US school has come to the country as a bridge for the friendship of the two nations.

In reply, representative of the US school and head of the History Department Benjamin Croucher voiced his hope that the US-Vietnam bilateral relations will continue to thrive.

The VUS and George School set up relations in 1995 and the school was the first US education establishment to visit Vietnam through the help of the VUS. As of 2017, the school has sent 18 delegations of teachers and students to visit and take part in voluntary programmes in Vietnam.

During the visits, the school presented medicine and medical equipment it got from donors to Vietnamese hospitals totalling 50,000 USD and provided support worth more than 30,000 USD to the country’s humanitarian facilities.

Lelii formed partnership with the VUS in the early of the 1990s. He headed six delegations of George School visiting Vietnam from 1996 to 2001 and was in charge of an exchange programme for students of the two nations until 2007.

Mellor and Sio were also the head of the US school’s delegations to Vietnam in many years.-VNA