MOST OUTSTANDING ORGANIZATION NOMINEE
University of Southern Mississippi Vietnamese Student Association
What are the purpose and goal(s) of your organization, and how has it met or exceeded those goals?
The purpose and goals of USMVSA were to rebuild the organization and increasing presence on campus and in GC. The Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) members work to uphold their Vietnamese culture and tradition as a non-profit student organization at The University of Southern Mississippi. They are dedicated to encouraging students to embrace both their similarities and differences, such as history, language, community, tradition, religion, and/or spirituality, to become fully engaged and engrossed in the community's desire to learn more about the significance of Vietnamese culture and how it plays a crucial role in defining who USMVSA are. To create cross-cultural bridges, promote acceptance, and raise awareness on campus, they wish to serve as representatives of the Vietnamese community to others from all backgrounds. They are committed to preserving an open and inviting environment within their association as a dynamic and open organization. As an association, VSA is a home away from home, where meaningful relationships are created when members work together to enrich each other's lives.
Address how your organization was outstanding in the following areas: recruitment, marketing, outreach to campus community, use of resources, officer training and event planning.
USMVSA heavily stays active in involvement fairs as a means to recruit and reach out to the campus community. General members also go out to spread the word by mouth and recruit new members for the organization. USMVSA advertises philanthropy and social events around the campus community. They also reach out to the campus community by having collaborative, social events with other campus clubs like the psychology club, volleyball club, and Baptist student union. They use their resources by communicating with campus staff to help raise money as well as using campus facilities to hold general meetings and social events. The co-presidents train their officers by allowing each eboard member creative freedom of growth into their positions. The presidents have also implemented a new system of having frequent one on one's to help provide professional criticism and improvement for each board member throughout the year. When USMVSA plan events, they make sure they are thoroughly coordinated by referring to past year's documentation and marking improvements for future generations. In addition to intensive event planning, USMVSA adjusts its events with other VSAs to ensure and promote GC involvement.
How did the organization work together to maximize strengths and overcome weaknesses?
A struggle that always occurred before was a lack of helpers for events and disorganization. as well as people who lack the drive for the advancement of the organization. USMVSA had a larger eboard that allowed an exceptional delegation of tasks for running socials, meetings, and big events smoothly. It also allowed more flexibility and adaptability amongst the eboard when it comes to coordination. Some examples are: finding a proficient and cheap venue through connections or finding a new location for general body meetings when technical issues occur an hour before the meeting. They furthermore increase welcomeness to members by recruiting and encouraging member participation. To maximize the connections of the campus directory during USMVSA's annual Eggrolll Festival, eboard has emailed all of the campus faculty to boost profit earnings. Because the board had a large number of members with different personal work schedules, they stayed organized to ensure the prosperity of USMVSA's development.
Provide specific examples of how the student group demonstrated growth and development in the 2021-2022 academic year.
USMVSA developed a stronger and more efficient eboard as a whole this year. In past years, all eboards struggle with tension amongst each other that affected the planning and initiation of events. The presidents emphasized professional vs. personal throughout the year credited to the efficiency of USMVSA's eboard coordination and delegation. Due to the organization collaborating with other campus organizations and social media presence, USMVSA was able to gain the attraction of members to encourage cultural awareness of Vietnam. They were also able to bring back a traditional event, Tet Festival, by advertising to the whole Hattiesburg community. During the Tet Festival, they demonstrated their mission goal due to sharing the culture like having authentic Vietnamese food and games for the Hattiesburg community to participate in. In terms of events, they were able to create a new and interesting event, Lantern To The Top, on the coast that was located in a location more accessible for all GC schools to participate in other than general body members. Additionally, to advertise more participation internally, USMVSA implemented a member point system, offered rewards for participation, and created more engaging activities for their activeness. An example of member engagement was redesigning IFAVs (Interesting Facts About Vietnam) by adding the pronunciation of Vietnamese words and encouraging members to speak and share.