Vietnamese Students Association: Keeping Cultural Heritage Alive

Tuesday, 11 October 2011 06:21

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No one in your school looks like you. Imagine how isolated you might feel.

That was the experience of the current president of the University of Arizona's Vietnamese Students Association, Diana Dang and her cousin, Kathy Tran who is also a member of the association. Both said they felt like they were the only Asian kids in their school.

“I didn’t like the fact that I was different,” Tran said of her younger years. A graduate of Ironwood Ridge high school, Tran felt like she was the only Asian there. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were only about 1,900 Vietnamese people in Tucson in 2000, 0.4 percent of the total population of Tucson.

But being a member of the association has helped both women embrace their cultural identity.

“Everyone there is kinda like a family. You make life-long friends there,” Dang said of the cultural centers on campus. The centers become like a second home for students to meet with others who share their cultural backgrounds, Dang said.

The Vietnamese Students Association has about 70 members, mainly students who are all pretty “tight knit,” according to Dang. They work with the elders of Our Lady of La Vang, a Vietnamese Catholic church located at 800 S. Tucson Blvd., to pass down Vietnamese traditions to the younger members of the congregation.

"I was like the only

Asian kid in my school."

You don’t have to be Vietnamese to be a member of the association. It’s open to everyone, as Anthony Basilio found out. Basilio is Filipino and a member of the association.

“It’s opened me up to other cultures and allowed me to see the differences and similarities between Asian cultures," he said.

The association works to promote their culture outside the church, too. This weekend they’ll be at Tucson Meet Yourself, and in April they’ll be hosting the 2012 Miss Ao Dai pageant on the UA Mall. UA News covered the 2011 Miss Ao Dai pageant. Ao Dai is a beauty pageant and traditional dance performance hosted by the association to raise money which will be used to provide more free events from the association.

Written by Tim W. Glass You are reading Vietnamese Students Association: Keeping Cultural Heritage Alive articles

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