VSA - Issuu

from Year in Review 2017-18

Events:

Che and Chill, VSA x HKES: Tea Time, I Love Pho, Miss Asia: Fashion Week, Valentine Strawberry Shortcake Fundraiser, Summer Rolls Workshop, , Vietnamese Iced Coffee, VSA Banquet: Forever and Always

Interviewee:

Christina Tran:

Incoming president (junior 2018-19), cultural chair (sophomore 2017-18), intern (freshmen 2016-17)

How did this year go? Can you tell us about some of this year’s events / programming?

It was pretty successful. For our biggest event in the Fall, Miss Asia, we were able to increase our outreach by inviting a lot of outside VSAs, including Northeast, Rutgers, Baruch, and Temple. The event sold out in 37 minutes, and we had really diverse contestants. We managed to do everything on time and got food from the city for our event, so that turned out well.

We don’t have a lot of small events or fundraisers, to focus on one big event each semester. Our wedding-themed banquet in the Spring semester got 30-40 outside VSA members to come. We received feedback from upper-class and alumnis that it was the best banquet they’ve been to, because it wasn’t just food and performances, there was a storyline connected throughout.

What’s a favorite memory from this year?

My favorite memory was when I went with my E-Board to a conference in Virginia, where we bonded really well and had a valuable time before the seniors graduating.

It’s very cool that VSA has a strong external network with VSAs from other colleges/ universities!

How did you guys establish your external networks outside Bing?

Vietnamese cultural groups on college campuses across the country have the same name as us, the Vietnamese Student Association, or VSA, whereas other cultural groups would have varying names on each campus. Our groups’ names help us connect.

VSAs across the country are split into regions and regional conferences are held regularly to connect the VSAs within it. Alot of our E-Board who live in the city would go to VSA Mixers in the summer and other conferences during the year, where we got more opportunities to network with outside VSAs, meet new people and attend workshops on Vietnamese culture, identity, and language.

Everyone in VSA loves meeting new people; even though it involves a lot of traveling, they’d always find opportunities to meet up! They really care about the organization, so they all want to expand it.

How has VSA grown / changed since you joined?

When I joined as a freshman intern, I felt it was very cliquey and not a lot of internal E-Board members got along. So, at first, I was outside of the “clique” and felt a little intimidated by members who were already there. That changed when the new E-Board members came in, they were more serious and more welcoming to outside members. With the new E-Board, I felt more included. We’re all good friends now and have good communications; we have more events with better success. We still struggle with time management but it’s improving.

Even though I felt intimidated and didn’t really like everyone initially, I stayed as a cultural chair ‘cause I wanted to spread Vietnamese awareness.

How have you seen yourself grow? What was something you learned being in your role?

In the fall semester, many of my friends were pledging, which I wasn’t interested in, so I was by myself alot, that’s when I started reaching out to the rest of E-Board and got close with them.

I learned how to be alone & more independent, but I also became more open, made connections and accepted more people into my life instead of beings scared and withdrawn.

Being cultural EC, I learned to time-manage with other people, and I learned a little more cooking ‘cause I have to call home for instructions, “How do you make thit kho (Vietnamese braised pork)?” This year, I live on-campus, so I have to go downtown a lot to one of my friend’s houses to cook. But I’m moving off-campus next year, I’ll get to do a lot of cooking on my own so, I’m very excited.

Was the position (cultural chair) what you expected it to be?

I did things things that were expected of my position, but most of the time I did more, which is fine ‘cause I care about the organization.

Any difficulties?

A lot of time, people didn’t show up on time. For example, we wanted everyone to show up at 9 the latest, so we say “let’s be there at 8:30!” but even then, people’d still be late, and I’m pretty frustrated. We struggled with time-management, planning, and doing everything last-minute. We’re always really stressed 1-2 weeks before our events.

And even though, we’re not as cliquey as before, people still think that VSA E-Board is very exclusive, and we ‘re having troubles building connections with general body members like PAL does. PAL has alot of people coming to their events and meetings ‘cause they have a general body, which is something that we lack. We have a reputation for being cliquey, so I want to build close-enough connections with people outside E-Board so they’d want to come with us to conferences.

What would you improve / do differently with VSA next year?

Again, I want to build a general body and take down that wall that make us exclusive.

Previously when I was a freshmen intern, we mostly had mainstream food such as spring rolls and banh mi. I am the cultural EC this year so I, my co-chair and the social chair came up ideas for the food and did all of the cooking; we tried to have more home style cooks, such as braised pork (thit kho) for our GIM. One of my goal is to have VSA implements more on cultural awareness and emphasize on traditions, not just on the social level.

After going to conferences, I realized there’re a lot of cultural things that the VSA’s banquets are missing, and how it is more of a social, rather than a cultural, group. I also noticed that other VSAs have cultural shows and other subgroups have China Night, Japan Night, Korean Night but there’s no Vietnam Night showcasing Vietnamese dances and traditions such as fan dances, umbrella dancers, ao dai - that’s something I want to get going. I think the last time VSA had a cultural show was in 2013, when I was in high school, so I’ll try to bring it back.