< Back | Home

Nghia Nguyen, Vietnamese Student Association president, and Angie Ngo, the association's secretary, discuss future group events with their members on Wednesday evening.

SJSU's Vietnamese Student Association still strong at 30

By: Rie Nakanishi

Posted: 11/17/08

The SJSU Vietnamese Student Association celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, said Nghia Nguyen, president of the club.

The club was first established in 1978 to encourage students to get involved with the Vietnamese community that was growing in San Jose at the time, according to the introduction on the
club's Facebook.

"A lot of people don't know much about (the Vietnamese culture)," Nguyen said of the younger generation of Vietnamese-Americans losing their ties to and interests in the Vietnamese culture.

The club now consists of 40 to 60 active members, mostly Vietnamese-Americans who were either born in the U.S. or came to this country when they were young, Nguyen said. The club also has some Chinese and Filipino members.

Nhat Phung, a sophomore accounting information systems major, is a new member and also one of the students who immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 8.

"I just wanted to get some contacts with all the Vietnamese people at school and just learn more about my culture," he said. "I can relate to (the Vietnamese students) more than people from other nationalities."

The club tries to hold an event every week, whether it's small or big, Nguyen said.

Although it is a Vietnamese club, the members are trying to incorporate the Vietnamese culture as well as the American culture into the events they hold.

"Some events have (the elements of) the Vietnamese culture. Some events, we go toward the American culture since a lot of us are here in the U.S.," Nguyen said.

One of the recent big events was attending the United Vietnamese Student Associations of Northern California (UVSA) summit at University of California, Davis, in which VSAs from different universities came together with the Vietnamese community.

Kevin Nguyen, a freshman international business major and a new member of VSA, said that through attending the summit, he learned about his heritage and culture.

"I came here when I was three, so I do want to keep in touch with my culture and learn more about it," he said. "(An event like the summit) helps being a Vietnamese-American because you don't want to lose your roots."

They also had a Halloween party to include some American culture in their club activities, representing their identities not only as Vietnamese but also as Vietnamese-Americans, Nghia Nguyen said.

He also said that in addition to hosting events, the club also invites special speakers to its regular meetings to discuss topics such as Vietnamese history, heritage and culture and the Vietnamese-American community.

The club is also committed to helping out the Vietnamese community by being a translator for the old Vietnamese generation, informing them of a certain program in their community, Nguyen said.

"It's a benefit for (the members)," Nguyen said. "As Vietnamese, it's really important to know where we come from, how we came to the U.S. and how we are today."

From time to time, the members go out and have mostly Vietnamese food to get out of the daily routine of a regular meeting.

The club meets every Wednesday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the Pacifica Room in the Student Union.

Nguyen said his goal as president of the club is to strengthen the bonding between the members and officers and make the organization as active and strong as it once was, when he first came to SJSU in 2003.

"A lot of old members and officers came from Vietnam, so it was very active," he said.

Upcoming events include a fundraising activity, Casino Night, on Nov. 21. A portion of the money raised will go to the funds for a bigger event in December, Winter Formal, a formal dinner that the club is planning.

Anyone is welcome to come check out the club, Nguyen said.