Community Outreach
uvsa.org
UVSA SoCal
The Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California (UVSA SoCal) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, non-partisan, community-based, and youth-oriented organization designed to provide a united voice for youth and professional leaders from across Southern California. The organization was founded in 1982 as a means for the Vietnamese diaspora community to organize socially and politically.
It is committed to leadership development, cultural awareness, civic engagement, and community service. UVSA SoCal is comprised entirely of unpaid volunteers including students, alumni, professionals, educators, and community leaders.
UVSA Tết Festival
UVSA Tết Festival is organized by young volunteers across Southern California to celebrate the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. Tết, short for Tết Nguyên Đán, is the most important holiday in Vietnamese culture. Tết celebrates the arrival of a new spring where families reunite, enjoy each other’s company, forget about the troubles of the previous year and look forward to a better upcoming year.
tetfestival.org
History of UVSA Tết Festival
The UVSA Tết Festival of Southern California (Hội Tết Sinh Viên) is recognized as the nation’s largest Vietnamese Lunar New Year Festival. The first UVSA Tết Festival started in 1982. Since then, the festival has significantly improved in many areas such as a better display of the Vietnamese culture and traditions, and more collaborations with the local community organizations. UVSA has had multiple homes for the Tết Festival in the past. We were formerly located in Garden Grove until 2013, and our current home is OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa. Ultimately, no matter where the location is, UVSA’s vision to hosting the Tết Festival stays true, and that is to create an avenue for everyone to have a better understanding of the Vietnamese culture in many ways: vibrant arrays of traditional food, traditional performance and entertainment, and cultural exhibitions.
My Most Impactful Positions in UVSA
Operations Advisor
Train new members and assist the Operations Director in overseeing the logistics of the 3-day event.
2019-Present
Decorations Director
Designed and oversaw the decorative aspect of the 3-day event. Total budget: $5,000.
2019-2020
Operations Director
Trained the four divisions of Operations: Technical Assistance, Access Control, Traffic, and Dispatch.
2018-2019
Internal Vice President
Oversaw different aspects of the organization including administration and internal development.
2018-2019
My Experience with UVSA
When I joined the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations of Southern California (UVSA), I aimed to become the next generation of leader and to use my experience in science to encourage college students to pursue a career in STEM. When I was on the executive board as the Internal Vice President for UVSA from 2018 to 2019, my vision was to promote professional development for college undergraduates. For the UVSA Annual Summit which aimed to provide attendees with resources, tools, and knowledge to develop professional skills, I planned and run the workshop called “Bio Major? What’s next?”. The objective of the workshop was to show that a biological sciences degree opens more opportunities than just the medical field. This is critically important to discuss since many Vietnamese students listen to their parents and become fixated on healthcare careers. They then realize that the medical field is not for them and fail to complete their degree or decide to switch major. My goal is to share my experience of graduate school to ensure that our community is aware that a path toward a master or PhD degree in biology can also open opportunities in research, industries, and academia.
UVSA also hosts one of the world’s largest Tết Festival which attracts 150,000 guests annually and immerses them in culturally enriching attractions. I have been involved since 2014, but my most challenging position has been as Operations director. I supervised the logistical aspect of the festival from set-up to clean-up, working with a budget of $50,000, and my team 38 individuals. Although our personalities, ideas, and schedules sometimes differed, I organized accordingly, listened attentively, and devised optimal solutions to our challenges. I motivated and inspired my members to develop their skillsets in leadership. My role as Operations director helped me refine my leadership skills and mentorship abilities, which I now apply toward my students and laboratory mentees. Although UVSA Tết Festival and the academic settings are two different environments, the skills needed to complete projects are identical such as collaboration, troubleshooting, planning, and more. I am grateful to be part of this project and will continue to help my community celebrate the most important holiday in Vietnamese culture.