The Vietnamese Student Association held its annual fall reception Thursday night, featuring cartoonist and illustrator GB Tran@@http://gbtran.com/@@ as a keynote speaker. Held in the Living Learning Center South, the night also featured the 2012-13 executives giving introductory speeches and co-directors Thao Bui and Duy-Chi “DC” Nguyen@@directory@@ outlining the group’s major goals for the year.
VSA’s goals include continuing to promote VSA 4 Kids@@http://pages.uoregon.edu/vsa/annual-project/vsa-4-kids/@@ — a program designed to teach kids about Vietnamese culture. The group has also decided to raise money for Medical, Educational Missions and Outreach@@google search@@ — a nonprofit group that provides health care, food, supplies and scholarships to the underprivileged in Vietnam — as its annual Collective Philanthropy Project.
Various students and faculty, as well as members of the Hong Kong Student Association, Kultura Pilipinas@@http://leadership.uoregon.edu/get_involved/student_groups/462@@, Craft Center, parents from VSA 4 Kids and a group of around 15 representatives from Oregon State University’s VSA attended the semi-formal event.
“It went very well — there was trivia to get people involved and they selected a great keynote speaker,” said Thomas Trinh,@@https://www.facebook.com/cheungnation1@@ an OSU senior and president of OSU’s VSA.
Tran, who wrote and illustrated the graphic memoir “Vietnamerica: A Family’s Journey”, @@http://www.amazon.com/Vietnamerica-Familys-Journey-GB-Tran/dp/0345508726@@spoke about how his initial decision to turn away from cultural apathy after his grandmother’s death gradually developed into a genuine interest in his parents’ stories, ultimately leading to his decision to actually put together a book. “Vietnamerica” chronicles the story of his family’s struggles during the Vietnam War and as refuges in the United States.
Tran also hoped his family’s story could also be used to address larger issues such as immigration, and specifically, the struggle to form an identity while simultaneously existing between at least two different cultures.
“We thought he’d be a great presence,” said Nguyen, who had met Tran at last year’s Union of North American Vietnamese Student Associations@@http://www.unavsa.org/@@ conference in Denver, Colo. “He’s someone creative, and his views on being Vietnamese American are very visceral and real and applicable to us.”