This entry is the first installation of the “Presidential Perspective” series, written by current UNAVSA President, Thoa Kim Nguyen. This will be a series of a few short stories from Thoa’s experiences as the face of UNAVSA and about her life as a Vietnamese American female. [Disclaimer]: This post contains distressing material that pertains to…
UNAVSA is proud to present the relaunch of the UNAVSA Blog! The blog will be a platform for UNAVSA members and external contributors to engage our community through a collective of creative storytelling. The blog will feature personal narratives, photography portfolios, and other multimedia that resonate with the North American Vietnamese voice and reflect the…
Dear attendees, I would like to share with all of you my experience of a very special, joyful long weekend in Seattle. Throughout my stay at the conference, I felt belonged, comfortable, relaxed, happy. I have had tremendous fun and created close relationships with several of you, with whom I continue to keep in touch.…
Want to relive some of those conference memories? Read on to hear about some first UNAVSA Conference experiences from the 2015 Visionary Scholarship Class (Vuong Nguyen, Jennifer Nguyen, Natalie Doan-Dunnum, John Nguyen, Kevin Le, Wesley Tran, Royce Le, Katherine Phan)! — Q: What made you want to come to UNAVSA? Royce: To be quite frank (see…
Dear UNAVSA-12, It is a little prolonged but I wanted to some how convey my feelings to you all and my experiences of the past week. During closing ceremony and Positive Sparks, as I sat anxiously twiddling my thumbs, a female came up from behind and embraced me tightly. Up until that point, I had…
The Ignite Cultural Show is a cultural competition between VSAs across Ontario with the goal to preserve our Vietnamese identity by promoting our Vietnamese culture, and language through the performing arts. This year our theme was Lạc Vào Cổ Tích or Lost in A Tale. Nerve-wracking is a word that perfectly describes how I felt…
Hi! My name is Jen Nguyen and I am a graduating senior studying Psychology and Sociology at Michigan State University. It was my honor and a privilege to be one of the Co-Executive Directors this past year at the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations Midwest’s, 13th annual Vietnamese Interacting as One Conference (VIA-1). With VIA-1…
Often times, we think that VSA’s/IVSA’s/UVSA’s have only been around within the last decade or two simply because we ourselves experience the ups and downs of VSA’s and their existence. Some days they’re alive and kicking with new members, and some days we don’t know how to revive them. But, in New England, they have…
Bursts of laughter filled the room as we watched one another act out charade telephone. Following the UNAVSA-12 presentation, attendees had to act out different animals and occupations from snake to belly dancer. By the end of the activity, large circles formed and attendees from Washington and Oregon alike, mingled and shared their stories of…
Hi everyone! I’m Thu-Mai the current president of UH VSA and I hope everyone is having a wonderful start of the new year. Chúc Mừng Năm Mới and happy year of the Goat/Ram!!! Every school has their “baby” whether it be a culture show, VSA pageant, a date auction, formals, leadership convention, sporting event, or…