Vietnamese Student Association
Its Culture Night brings fun for everyone
Its Culture Night brings fun for everyone
by Alex Behnke
College is a time for students to find themselves, to build an identity that they use to define themselves for the rest
of their lives. Being an Asian American student however, it can be tough to define a true identity. That’s why it is
important to have student organizations that Asian American students can use to not only form their cultural identity,
but also to make friends with other students that share their beliefs.
One such organization on the University of Wisconsin campus is the Vietnamese Student Association. Aside from
promoting Vietnamese tradition and culture, this organization’s goal is to bring together students from all over the
campus, and to provide the Asian American students in attendance a group to help them grow and strengthen their
cultural identity.
The group itself is very young, about five years old, and it has about 15 to 20 active members that are involved with
events and fund-raisers. Since they consider themselves a local level Vietnamese Student Association, the group is
always trying to help its members become leaders, and move into higher levels of leadership, so that they in turn
can help smaller organizations. The combination of a smaller organization with the youth of the group itself means
that there is an emphasis on the closeness of the group. The atmosphere was very friendly, and most of the people
in attendance knew everyone else that was attending.
The con of having a young and smaller group is that recruitment can be tough, which is why the main form of
advertisement that the VSA uses is word of mouth. Everyone is encouraged to bring their friends, which will
hopefully lead to those friends bringing their friends, and so on and so forth. The group isn’t open to just
Vietnamese or Asian American students either; anyone can come and share in the fun. I asked one person in the
audience, Alex Fernan, why he was attending, and he was quoted as saying “My roommates are very active in VSA
and I want to support their passion for their culture.” That is the goal that the VSA is trying to accomplish, both Asian
American and non-Asian American students coming together to learn about Vietnamese culture and to make some
new friends in the process.
As I mentioned earlier I was fortunate enough to attend one of their culture nights, and let me say, I had a great time.
It was held in the music hall on the UW campus, it was free to attend, and as with all other VSA events, bringing
guests was strongly encouraged. As I walked into the main hall, the first thing I noticed was how many people were
in attendance. I had been told that there were about 15 to 20 active members, so I had no idea how many people
would come. By the time that the culture night started, there were about 70 people in the audience, and the
closeness that the VSA tries to encourage was obvious, everyone seemed to know everyone else, and everybody
was friendly and lively.
The culture night itself was a series of performances meant to be entertaining, while also showing and teaching
some basics of Vietnamese culture. It started with a traditional Vietnamese fable called "Star fruit for Gold," which
warned about the consequences of greed and the rewards of working hard. After the skit, there was a traditional
Vietnamese dance called "Em Trong Mat Toi," which was performed by all the girl members of the VSA. After that,
the skits became more contemporary, with a few rap songs performed by VSA member John Vietnam, and a few
original songs performed by singer/guitarist Charlie Kim. Both of these acts not only had serious talent, but the
songs that they performed also had messages about being proud of their heritage and identity.
After those performances, the VSA members performed a modern “K-pop” or Korean pop dance routine, which was
both impressive and humorous to watch, and had the audience cheering and laughing throughout the whole song.
It is interesting that on a Vietnamese culture night they would perform to Korean dance music, but it just further
serves to show the all-inclusive nature of the VSA.
In the middle of the show there was a two-part skit performed by the VSA about Asian American Identity in today’s
society. The skit followed a half white, half Vietnamese kid in the middle of the city, who can’t seem to fit in. In
addition to problems with other kids, his home life isn’t much better, and he doesn’t feel like he can open up to the
counselor at school. It is only after he meets a group of kids who started an organization in one of the community
centers that he finally felt like he fits in. The message of the skit is to not be ashamed of who you are, and if you
look, you can find groups like the one in the skit, or the VSA, where they can be accepted and happy for who they are.
Later on in the night, there were a few more dances, both traditional and modern, a song performed by event
organizer Jessica Phan, as well as another traditional skit about the origin of a traditional Vietnamese rice cake. I
thoroughly enjoyed both the humorous way that the skits were performed, as well as learning about Vietnamese
tradition and culture. The night wrapped up with a fashion show starring all of the VSA performers in traditional
Vietnamese clothing. As they strutted on stage, the crowd cheered and clapped, a fitting curtain call for what had
been a terrifically enjoyable evening.
At the end of the night, I walked out of the VSA culture night with a smile on my face. The night had been full of
laughs, as well as inspirational messages to all in attendance. I would definitely recommend a VSA event to all of
my friends, and I’m sure that once they got to experience what I did, they would go out and bring their friends back
as well. And to all those people who don’t know if a smaller student organization is for them, let me tell you that
while the Vietnamese Student Association of the University of wisconsin-Madison may be small and young, there is
serious potential for growth. The people are so friendly; they will win you over in no time. They have monthly
meetings, along with fund-raisers and other events and parties, so there is no excuse not to at least give it a try, I
almost guarantee you will leave with a smile on your face.
Alex Behnke is a student at UW-Madison This article was submitted as a project for Asian American Studies 240
course under Asst. Prof. Jan Miyasaki.
College is a time for students to find themselves, to build an identity that they use to define themselves for the rest
of their lives. Being an Asian American student however, it can be tough to define a true identity. That’s why it is
important to have student organizations that Asian American students can use to not only form their cultural identity,
but also to make friends with other students that share their beliefs.
One such organization on the University of Wisconsin campus is the Vietnamese Student Association. Aside from
promoting Vietnamese tradition and culture, this organization’s goal is to bring together students from all over the
campus, and to provide the Asian American students in attendance a group to help them grow and strengthen their
cultural identity.
The group itself is very young, about five years old, and it has about 15 to 20 active members that are involved with
events and fund-raisers. Since they consider themselves a local level Vietnamese Student Association, the group is
always trying to help its members become leaders, and move into higher levels of leadership, so that they in turn
can help smaller organizations. The combination of a smaller organization with the youth of the group itself means
that there is an emphasis on the closeness of the group. The atmosphere was very friendly, and most of the people
in attendance knew everyone else that was attending.
The con of having a young and smaller group is that recruitment can be tough, which is why the main form of
advertisement that the VSA uses is word of mouth. Everyone is encouraged to bring their friends, which will
hopefully lead to those friends bringing their friends, and so on and so forth. The group isn’t open to just
Vietnamese or Asian American students either; anyone can come and share in the fun. I asked one person in the
audience, Alex Fernan, why he was attending, and he was quoted as saying “My roommates are very active in VSA
and I want to support their passion for their culture.” That is the goal that the VSA is trying to accomplish, both Asian
American and non-Asian American students coming together to learn about Vietnamese culture and to make some
new friends in the process.
As I mentioned earlier I was fortunate enough to attend one of their culture nights, and let me say, I had a great time.
It was held in the music hall on the UW campus, it was free to attend, and as with all other VSA events, bringing
guests was strongly encouraged. As I walked into the main hall, the first thing I noticed was how many people were
in attendance. I had been told that there were about 15 to 20 active members, so I had no idea how many people
would come. By the time that the culture night started, there were about 70 people in the audience, and the
closeness that the VSA tries to encourage was obvious, everyone seemed to know everyone else, and everybody
was friendly and lively.
The culture night itself was a series of performances meant to be entertaining, while also showing and teaching
some basics of Vietnamese culture. It started with a traditional Vietnamese fable called "Star fruit for Gold," which
warned about the consequences of greed and the rewards of working hard. After the skit, there was a traditional
Vietnamese dance called "Em Trong Mat Toi," which was performed by all the girl members of the VSA. After that,
the skits became more contemporary, with a few rap songs performed by VSA member John Vietnam, and a few
original songs performed by singer/guitarist Charlie Kim. Both of these acts not only had serious talent, but the
songs that they performed also had messages about being proud of their heritage and identity.
After those performances, the VSA members performed a modern “K-pop” or Korean pop dance routine, which was
both impressive and humorous to watch, and had the audience cheering and laughing throughout the whole song.
It is interesting that on a Vietnamese culture night they would perform to Korean dance music, but it just further
serves to show the all-inclusive nature of the VSA.
In the middle of the show there was a two-part skit performed by the VSA about Asian American Identity in today’s
society. The skit followed a half white, half Vietnamese kid in the middle of the city, who can’t seem to fit in. In
addition to problems with other kids, his home life isn’t much better, and he doesn’t feel like he can open up to the
counselor at school. It is only after he meets a group of kids who started an organization in one of the community
centers that he finally felt like he fits in. The message of the skit is to not be ashamed of who you are, and if you
look, you can find groups like the one in the skit, or the VSA, where they can be accepted and happy for who they are.
Later on in the night, there were a few more dances, both traditional and modern, a song performed by event
organizer Jessica Phan, as well as another traditional skit about the origin of a traditional Vietnamese rice cake. I
thoroughly enjoyed both the humorous way that the skits were performed, as well as learning about Vietnamese
tradition and culture. The night wrapped up with a fashion show starring all of the VSA performers in traditional
Vietnamese clothing. As they strutted on stage, the crowd cheered and clapped, a fitting curtain call for what had
been a terrifically enjoyable evening.
At the end of the night, I walked out of the VSA culture night with a smile on my face. The night had been full of
laughs, as well as inspirational messages to all in attendance. I would definitely recommend a VSA event to all of
my friends, and I’m sure that once they got to experience what I did, they would go out and bring their friends back
as well. And to all those people who don’t know if a smaller student organization is for them, let me tell you that
while the Vietnamese Student Association of the University of wisconsin-Madison may be small and young, there is
serious potential for growth. The people are so friendly; they will win you over in no time. They have monthly
meetings, along with fund-raisers and other events and parties, so there is no excuse not to at least give it a try, I
almost guarantee you will leave with a smile on your face.
Alex Behnke is a student at UW-Madison This article was submitted as a project for Asian American Studies 240
course under Asst. Prof. Jan Miyasaki.