MOST OUTSTANDING ORGANIZATION NOMINEE
Vietnamese Student Organization at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette
What are the purpose and goal(s) of your organization, and how has it met or exceeded those goals?
The purpose and goal of VSOUL was to promote and awareness and appreciation of the Vietnamese culture. Through philantropic, cultural, and social event. They had various events and had many people to come and enjoy the events.
Address how your organization was outstanding in the following areas: recruitment, marketing, outreach to campus community, use of resources, officer training and event planning.
Recruitment, VSOUL reached out to other organization, posted flyers around campuses, and also reaching out to alumni and friends to get involved once again. The board members were also trained from their previous predecessors and informed and be ready on the look out. Event planning was smooth and done through coordination with everyone and in person meeting.
How did the organization work together to maximize strengths and overcome weaknesses?
One of the struggles VSOUL was facing was a leader. At one point in time, they had no president and only a few board members. The members decided if they wanted the board to work and run smoothly. They would need to put aside difference and agree to grow the organization is the priority. They would end up hanging to get comfortable with each other and also reach out to one another on progress.
Provide specific examples of how the student group demonstrated growth and development in the 2021-2022 academic year.
VSOUL serves as a platform for promoting Vietnamese culture at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In the years 2020-2021, VSOUL was experiencing a decline. It was a rough time for us and we were most likely to cease to exist, but then previous and new board members joined during the summer of 2021 to rebuild the organization. At this time we were still lacking a president, and we were unable to recruit any new members. Although we still had these complications, it looked like everything was planned out and ready for the semester. At our first meeting of the semester, we unexpectedly received a large number in attendees. The board members were motivated by their achievements as it was the first step in VSOUL’s growth. Fortunately, we got to recruit new board members, we found a leader to fill the position of president, and we were finally able to form a full board. Collectively, we recruited freshmen during the orientation expo to promote the club. In addition, we posted flyers around campus, participated in volunteer events throughout Lafayette to gain community attention. Senior advisors served as a guidance throughout the year. We knew that our goal was to establish a stable foundation for VSOUL. We also supported other clubs on campus, formed close relationships and connections internally. At this time, the organization was doing very well. Furthermore, we were pumping out events, so we had to come up with a plan to raise money to afford it. Especially after introducing the humiliation live on instagram which inspired many other organizations in VSAs to Our profit margin was way higher than what we had to spend for the supplies which was the reasoning for other VSA’s to follow.