PYD Spotlight: MAUVSA Advance Conference VIII

Another year, another MAUVSA Conference!

The Mid-Atlantic Union of Vietnamese Student Association (MAUVSA) Conference has been one of our favorite events to attend because it brings together such a large group individuals from all over the country. This year we had a table at the Networking Fair where we met many newcomers to the conference, and with them they brought a fresh take on what they want to see more of in terms of representation and conversations.

This year’s conference took place between February 8-10. With its proximity to the Lunar New Year, we decided to incorporate the red envelopes (lì xì) into our table activity. We had a wishing tree where attendees were encouraged to write down a wish, put it in an envelope, and hang it on the branches.

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Our hilarious wishing tree with nearly 50 wishes! (Courtesy: the awesome suppliers at Michaels).

The wish prompt was “What would you like to see/hear more of in the SEA community?” This question applied to anything, from representation to taboo topics to something as simple as expressing more emotions between family members. The enthusiasm and thought with which attendees wrote their wishes was a delight to see. We’ll be tweeting some of these wishes in the following weeks - and throughout the year. These conversations need to be had and we appreciate everyone who participated. Please feel free to continue sending us your wishes through our social media! Let’s put all these wishes, positive thoughts, and ideas into the future.

Awesome people making lunar new year wishes!

We really enjoyed meeting all old and new people again this year! We want to say thank you for everyone for stopping by our booth and sharing their stories and wishes! Furthermore, we want to give special thanks to the MAUVSA team for everything :)

PYD Spotlight: MAUVSA Advance Conference 2018

Jenny N: We walked into the Hyatt Regency Crystal City with windblown hair and arms full of workshop materials. MAUVSA VII was held on the lower level – the excitement of which we felt the moment we stepped off the elevator. Friends were reunited, people were meeting for the first time and talks of the upcoming featured speakers – like Kathy Tran – were abuzz in the air.

For the past two years Tammy and I have had a Project Yellow Dress (PYD) table during the networking session. This year, Natalie Doan-Dunn, the event coordinator, asked if we would like to hold a workshop in addition to a networking table. Of course, we were delighted to do so. And this year, we had an additional team member to make our contribution to MAUVSA even more successful: Dan Sanworanart, our multimedia specialist.

Every year Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) students from all along the East Coast universities attend the annual Mid-Atlantic Vietnamese Student Association (MAUVSA) Annual Conference. Side note: It’s not a requirement that the student be of Vietnamese descent, only that you’re open to learning about other cultures. And we certainly saw an interest during our workshop – many attendees were not Southeast Asian American and were eager to share and learn about different experiences.

We titled our workshop Embracing the Southeast Identity because it’s one of the core goals of PYD. We want to start conversations and we want these conversations to cultivate a stronger sense of self.

The workshop started with a quick clip from the short film First Generation by Jeannie Nguyen and Andrew Yuyi Truong. The film depicts situations that many Asian Americans can relate to. With the mood set, we broke out into small groups where each group was assigned a question from our prompt sheet. These were our conversation starters, a way to start sharing, to learn, and to relate.

The question sheet used during our PYD Workshop breakout.

I heard so many interesting stories. There were those that I could absolutely relate to. And then, there were those that only reaffirmed how important our mission is.

An attendee shared how her father used to regale her with stories about his time during the Vietnam War, even going so far as to wear his uniform for her. She was in middle school, a time when we generally are not as interested in our histories. When he passed away, she realized just how much she didn’t know about her father’s past. But she’s doing something about it now – she attended our workshop, shared and learned about other similar experiences.

Each of us has so many stories and we rarely share them in the way we want. This workshop was a way for our attendees to do so and we hope they enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed meeting and talking with them.

(At the networking event at MAUVSA VII. l-to-r: Jenny N., Dan S., Tammy T)

Tammy T: As Jenny mentioned, ever since we started Project Yellow Dress we have always done the networking booth at MAUVSA. In many ways, it is a tradition for us to come every year and connect with old and new faces from the Mid-Atlantic Vietnamese Student Association. It also gives us a chance to display what we have done so far as a team but let people to know that there is a space to share their stories. It's so great to see the new rising generation become interested in connecting with their own heritage, roots, or even learn about other people’s cultures. And, it's a great place to meet other companies, organizations, and platforms related to the Southeast Asian communities. In fact, we met Boat People SOS in a past MAUVSA conference and collaborated on a project with them!

Every year we try to do something interactive at the networking event. In the past, we created a world diaspora map where people could place pins or draw dots to show the multiple destinations their families have traveled through to get to where they are today. It's so insightful because it gave many attendees a chance to ask questions or to think about how they arrived to where they are today. It also prompted people to consider asking their parents about their life narratives.

This year, we decided to play a game where attendees drew cards from a deck. On each of those cards, we had a key word. The point is to share whatever comes first to their minds when they see the word. Examples of words we chose for this game were: boat people, refugee, home, diaspora, bubble/milk tea, immigration, etc.

We were also excited to pass out our PYD swag: postcards, bookmarks, and most exciting of all, our new pins and stickers! Our pins and stickers do not just have our PYD logo but they also say Child of Refugees or Child of Immigrants. The idea is to raise awareness of the many different narratives and experiences of immigrant and refugee families. These pins were well-received and many mentioned how much these messages resonated with them.

If the pins resonate with you or you know someone who would like them, click on this link.

PYD Spotlight: MAUVSA Conference 2016

The Mid-Atlantic Union of Vietnamese Student Associations (MAUVSA) Conference is an annual event over a spring weekend where VSAs from universities all over the United States can come to network with one another and prepare for their future careers. Over three days, the attendees enjoy workshops of their choosing, meet members from different schools, and are treated to a formal with a 10-course meal and entertainment. For many of the attendees, the best part of the conference is the opportunities to meet new friends and network with potential employers. 

As a former VSA board member of George Mason University's (GMU) chapter, I've seen the impact of MAUVSA on GMU's members. Many new members will attend from the urging of upperclassmen, but they never regret that weekend. And I can easily say the same about my own experience, even for just an hour during the networking event.

Project Yellow Dress had reserved a booth during the networking event that Saturday, February 27th, of the 5th Annual MAUVSA Conference. T.T. had already set up the booth when I arrived with a poster hastily but lovingly made. Although we are a new platform, we are enthusiastic and determined by our mission. 

There were so many individuals of different backgrounds. Our diaspora maps of the United States and of the world revealed various ancestral treks from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries. Below are pictures of the maps:

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The Vietnamese Boat People Diaspora (World Map)

Vietnamese Boat People Diaspora Map (USA) (This picture of the map was taken at the midway point of the event, therefore it is missing a few data points.)

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It is important to remember that these maps only represent a small population of Vietnamese/Southeast Asian families. And yet, look at the spread! One of the U.S. populations that surprised me was Michigan. I had no idea that Michigan had Boat People there. It was T.T. who explained to me that the reason for this was because of the Michigan Refugee Center. Even now, with the Syrian crisis, Michigan remains a huge supporter of aiding refugees.

One of the best surprises was meeting Trung Nguyen, a youth program coordinator with Boat People SOS (BPSOS). Before the start of the networking event, T.T. and I had talked about eventually reaching out to the organization, so it felt like fate that we'd run into a representative of theirs. A little fun fact: They are based in Falls Church, Virginia, where Eden Center (considered the hub of Vietnamese restaurants and shopping) is located. That explains why there is a Vietnamese community in Falls Church. 

Overall, the conference was a huge success. We gathered such interesting information and stories from the people we met. I'm excited to perhaps interview a few for a more in-depth perspective of their stories and how their lives have been shaped by their parents'/their journey as Boat People.
-J.N

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Theresa Hoang from GMU's VSA filling out the USA Diaspora Map.

As J.N. pointed out, this MAUVSA Conference was one of PYD's first networking experiences. MAUVSA Advance Conference Co-Executive Director, Tiffany Nguyen, told J.H. and I that we could have a booth during the networking fair. We were both so excited that we talked on the phone like crazy. We began discussing what we really wanted to promote and how we should decorate our flyers and bookmarks. Once J.N. joined our team, it was even merrier!

As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest interactive parts of our project was the diaspora maps. We loved how engaged people were with the maps as they tried to locate where their family members currently are in the aftermath of the war. It made each and every one of us very reflective of where we are today and how far we've come along as a group of people and as a group of individuals. In the process of people mapping out their family diaspora onto the map, J.N. and I began hearing wonderful (and heart-breaking) stories of people's families escaping after the Vietnam War (many of the students and alumni of VSA who came to the fair were also sons and daughters of Vietnamese Boat People). Many also shared the same feelings as PYD in regards to how little these stories are known. Many did not know about their parents' and grandparents' journeys from Southeast Asia until they were a lot older when they began to question certain things like identity, history narratives, or institutional teachings of the Vietnam War. 

Overall, PYD's first networking session was very successful because we met all kinds of people from all over America. Not only that but we also met other people who are working on similar goals and missions as PYD (Bars for Blogging, Boat People SOS, Project AVA). We even reconnected with old friends from VSA/college and made new ones, which is always great! Essentially, it was wonderful to see everyone sharing their stories so openly and passionately, and we can't wait to receive more new submissions soon! We hope PYD will grow further some day and become a platform to preserve all these lost voices and to inspire future ones!
-T.T