Calvin Pham

(he/him/his)

Candidate for External Vice president

 General Questions

A lot of people have the misconception that the EVP role is strictly CORR/UNAVSA-related duties. How do you intend to build a relationship with other organizations as well as the non-VSA community?

As an EVP, I would like to connect more to local communities and businesses such as STEM NOLA, and Pho Bang. Being a part of VSA also means giving back to our constituents and ensure their time, money, and support is being utilized effectively.

To do so, I would like to hold monthly sponsor give back events whether it is to visit their business or meet the owners and update them on what has been done with their contribution.

Other means to build relationship would be to invite them to our events and see the young VSA leaders benefiting from them, such as summit, camp delta, or date auction.

What is your view on VSA nationally, in terms of UNAVSA?

VSA Nationally is a great way to have a common ground to connect and network. VSA around the world opens the possibility to meet different people in different fields with different perspective, opening the endless possibilities of people to learn from. By connecting to many others and learning from them, one can be more of a well rounded individual. This will also open pathways to career choices, job opportunities, or even finding your best friend/soul mate. I believe that VSA as a whole can teach individuals valuable life lessons. UNAVSA is no exception. UNAVSA as a side partner organization to UVSA allows VSA members to branch out and reach a higher level of possibilities. From their knowledge session and conference, it is a way for individuals to mature further into the leadership space.

How do you view your responsibilities?

My responsibility as an e-board for UVSA is putting my constituent first. UVSA GC will not exist without its partner schools. By putting the needs of the individual VSA’s first, we strive as a region. My responsibilities as an EVP is not only bridge our region with external regions and communities, but also bridge possible experience, and opportunities to our region. This can be from potential scholarship outreach, social justice informatics, or bringing support from either our region to other regions to bringing in support from other regions.

What is your strategy to promote and maintain leadership within the Gulf Coast through your position?

To maintain leadership within Gulf Coast, one must be adaptable to the different learning styles. There are visual learners, tactile learners, reading & writing, and auditory. By being adaptable to all four, one will be able to target how can knowledge of active leadership be passed. If an individual is more tactile (have to be doing it) then I would push them to take up leadership roles and learn while they are in the position. This will apply similarly to different other learners. Other ways to promote and maintain leadership is to evaluate and explain how leadership is an active part of our daily life and how it can seep into your careers. Taking an active leadership position in VSA will help you grow in not only your professional scene but in any aspect of your life where decision making and planning will come into play.

What are some ways that leadership can be implemented outside of VSA?

Outside of vsa, leadership manifests itself in our work place, our projects, our volunteer efforts, and even in our friend groups. To do leadership is to be active with it. For example, a work or career will occasionally have you working in groups of people. Meetings are inevitable and people may have to hold them. It may seem simple, but having basic meeting skills such as meeting minutes, agenda, powerpoint will go miles in any industry. Along with that, leadership means critically thinking through options and making decisions which will affect your group. 

What do you think is the source of the generation gap within our region and what are some ways to improve our relationship with Cong Dong (older Vietnamese community)?

The larger source of the generation gap will always be in the ever changing social media scene. People connect differently depending on generations. Learning how individuals like to connect with others will help bridge that gap. For example, typically those who are older are not in the social media era and will prefer information or connections sent to them in person, e-mail, call or mail. Nowadays, most individuals are very receptive of in person marketing and connection and so by teaching others in our region adaptive social skills and professional connection skills, one can bridge the gap between each generation. 

What are some specific ways to honor and grow our organization’s professionalism?

The most important way to grow any organization’s professionalism is to actively participate in settings which will foster that environment. This will come into different forms such as being on staff, attending career panels, fairs, or volunteering. Putting individuals in professional settings will help them grow professionally. 

To add onto this, holding mock interviews, resume building, career fairs, career panels, workshop, and company outreach will help the organization reach further professionally

What are your plans to further engage inactive/busy alumni with our organization?

Engagement is a two way street. With that being said, there must be a pulling force for inactive/busy alumni. The ultimate goal is to make sure that the alumni will gain or benefit from our organization. Do they feel content or happy being a part of it? At each large vsa event, I would like to dedicate time to organize alumni programming to ensure that our alumnis are not forgotten about. There is always programming for our new VSA members but we must not forget that there are ways to participate without having to do staff positions or eboard positions. Other ways to engage alumnis is to possibly hold semesterly alumni and new vsa member mixers.

What is your vision for your position and what specific plans do you have in store for your term?

My vision with my position is to connect our region more with other regions, grow professionally, connect more with companies and businesses and let them see why VSA is important to them and their growing business. I want to ensure that people see the benefit of VSA not only on a individual level being in it while in college, but also why businesses and local communities should work with us and partner with us.

What is your advice for someone just getting into vsa?

The amount you gain from VSA is the amount you put in it. Ask a lot of questions. Don’t be scared to try something new. Of course, healthy distance yourself in order to reach your goals with either your schooling or career. Always write things down. Make sure that you reflect on each event, how did you learn from it and what can be done better (deltas). This will help you grow as an individual and as a leader.