Tết Nguyên Đán, or Vietnamese New Year, is one of the most important celebrations in the Vietnamese Culture. For me personally, it was and still is a holiday I look forward to most. My home was filled with special traditional foods and treats like bánh tét (Variety of sticky rice cakes with a savory or sweet…
Hello Everyone! My name is Thu-Mai Nguyen and I was part of the UNAVSA visionary class of 2013! For those of you who may not know what the UNAVSA Visionary scholarship is, it basically is a scholarship sponsored by Huy Duong for individuals who are deemed to be passionate, driven, and dedicated to their community.…
My knees ached from the squid-like position I held in the back seat of the cramped sports car. The passenger however, needed more of the extra legroom than I did. Exit 162 passes by the corner of my eye. As we draw near the city, doses of adrenaline migrates to my stomach; the tingling sensation…
Let’s go back in time when I first performed for the Asian American Student Intercollegiate Association (AASIA’s Annual Date Auction) which happened in my sophomore year of college! We were fundraising for UNAVSA’s CPP beneficiary which was VietHope. But, it meant so much more than just fundraising for an organization. It was the time when my…
I’d never thought I would come to the day where I would feel so at home and so out of place at the same time. I started participating in UVSA-Midwest my sophomore year of college and vividly remember how I got there and which keynote truly inspired me. I was EVP for VSA UIUC at…
Long time no see/talk everyone! I first would like to say, HAPPY THANKSGIVING to everyone in UNAVSA. I am truly thankful for the people who have helped to shape not only me, but I’m sure many of the members of UNAVSA in one way or another, into being the people that we are today. I…
The annual CoRR Retreat is never in the same place and is always a brand new adventure! This is my third official CoRR Retreat and I am not looking back. The previous two years I went as a CoRR member and this year, I had the opportunity to lead the CoRR Retreat as UNAVSA’s IVP…
The last time I was anywhere remotely Northwest was two years ago as the CPP Campaign Director for Children of Vietnam (Agent Orange Project). All I remember from that experience was donuts, hipsters, and a no taxes in Portland – just kidding. I also remembered the people and the contagious level of warmth they had…
It was May of 1986, my dad got arrested again for trying to escape Vietnam. He was arrested a few years prior with a year and a half sentence. This time, my mom was pregnant with me at 3 months. Though she already had my 2 brothers, my mom stood by his side despite his…
“This is why I can’t have nice things,” said a happy camper in a skit attempting to mimic UVSA SoCal’s president. We were challenged to put together a music video using a given person, song, show genre and a Vietnamese word – one of the many activities my camp family and I did together that…