{"id":2818,"date":"2025-04-22T19:42:46","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T19:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/?p=2818"},"modified":"2025-04-22T19:42:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T19:42:46","slug":"xin-chao-viet-nam-heritage-harmony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/2025\/04\/22\/xin-chao-viet-nam-heritage-harmony\/","title":{"rendered":"Xin Ch\u00e0o Vi\u1ec7t Nam: Heritage &amp; Harmony"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>By Linh Tran<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Reflecting on Community, Culture, and Leadership: VISA&#8217;s Spring 2025 Events<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Vietnamese Student Association (VISA) at the University of Michigan had the incredible<br>opportunity to organize two impactful cultural events during the spring of 2025: T\u1ebft &amp; Chill<br>2025 and Xin Ch\u00e0o Vi\u1ec7t Nam: Heritage &amp; Harmony. Both events brought together members of<br>the Vietnamese and greater student community and served as vibrant celebrations of Vietnamese<br>culture, identity, and connection. These successful programs were made possible through the<br>collective efforts of our team and the inspiring leadership that guided us every step of the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">T\u1ebft &amp; Chill 2025 was an intimate and meaningful event to celebrate the Lunar New Year, a<br>cherished holiday for many Vietnamese people. Despite being far from home, 40 Vietnamese<br>students gathered to honor traditions, share food, and enjoy festive activities that brought<br>comfort and joy. The event created a warm and welcoming space where students could unwind<br>and celebrate their cultural heritage with friends and peers. Participants found a sense of<br>belonging and community through games, crafts, and conversation. It was a reminder of how<br>powerful simple, heartfelt events can be, especially when cultural connection is most needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In contrast, Xin Ch\u00e0o Vi\u1ec7t Nam: Heritage &amp; Harmony was VISA\u2019s most significant event of the<br>year and an authentic cultural showcase. With an official attendance of 75 and an actual turnout<br>potentially closer to 90, the event brought together students, faculty, and guests from multiple<br>universities, including but not limited to Michigan State University, Bowling Green State<br>University, and the University of Toledo. Attendees enjoyed various cultural activities\u2014from<br>Vietnamese calligraphy to traditional games like can-throwing and a recreated &#8220;corner store&#8221;<br>reminiscent of home. The event celebrated Vietnamese heritage and fostered cross-cultural<br>appreciation, making it a meaningful experience for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The success of these events can be attributed mainly to the strong leadership within VISA. Our<br>planning team demonstrated dedication and vision and the ability to adapt and collaborate<br>effectively. Leaders worked tirelessly to manage logistics, engage volunteers, and ensure that<br>every detail\u2014from event flow to cultural authenticity\u2014was thoughtfully executed. Our success<br>was founded on clear communication, a shared sense of purpose, and a commitment to<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">community impact. This experience reaffirmed how great leadership is not about individual<br>recognition but about empowering a team to create something larger than themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We also owe special thanks to the Barger Leadership Institute at the University of Michigan,<br>whose generous funding made these events possible. Their support allowed us to bring our ideas<br>to life, offering students opportunities to engage deeply with Vietnamese culture. More than just<br>financial assistance, the institute&#8217;s backing represents an investment in student leadership,<br>cultural celebration, and community-building. We are deeply grateful for their role in helping<br>VISA foster a stronger and more inclusive campus environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These two events exemplify the power of culture, community, and leadership. As we look<br>forward to future initiatives, we carry the lessons and inspiration from this incredible season of<br>connection and celebration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-id=\"2821\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/DSCF4916_Original-Linh-Tran-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2821\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/DSCF4916_Original-Linh-Tran-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/DSCF4916_Original-Linh-Tran-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/DSCF4916_Original-Linh-Tran-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/DSCF4916_Original-Linh-Tran-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/DSCF4916_Original-Linh-Tran-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-id=\"2824\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/555A8484_Original-Linh-Tran-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2824\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/555A8484_Original-Linh-Tran-1-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/555A8484_Original-Linh-Tran-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/555A8484_Original-Linh-Tran-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/555A8484_Original-Linh-Tran-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/555A8484_Original-Linh-Tran-1-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-id=\"2819\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/6606d137eda12a40fe48ceaf59a92d51-Linh-Tran-1024x683.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2819\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/6606d137eda12a40fe48ceaf59a92d51-Linh-Tran-1024x683.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/6606d137eda12a40fe48ceaf59a92d51-Linh-Tran-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/6606d137eda12a40fe48ceaf59a92d51-Linh-Tran-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/6606d137eda12a40fe48ceaf59a92d51-Linh-Tran-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/6606d137eda12a40fe48ceaf59a92d51-Linh-Tran-2048x1366.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" data-id=\"2822\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/DSCF4948_Original-Linh-Tran-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2822\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/DSCF4948_Original-Linh-Tran-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/DSCF4948_Original-Linh-Tran-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/DSCF4948_Original-Linh-Tran-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/DSCF4948_Original-Linh-Tran-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/DSCF4948_Original-Linh-Tran-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Linh Tran Reflecting on Community, Culture, and Leadership: VISA&#8217;s Spring 2025 Events The Vietnamese Student Association (VISA) at the University of Michigan had the incredibleopportunity to organize two impactful cultural events during the spring of 2025: T\u1ebft &amp; Chill2025 and Xin Ch\u00e0o Vi\u1ec7t Nam: Heritage &amp; Harmony. Both events brought together members ofthe Vietnamese [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":391,"featured_media":2824,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,12],"tags":[64,93,219],"class_list":["post-2818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-funding","category-project-grants","tag-bli","tag-community","tag-leadership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/35\/2025\/04\/555A8484_Original-Linh-Tran-1-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/391"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2818"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2825,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2818\/revisions\/2825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lsa.umich.edu\/studentvoices\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}