It’s that time of year again! UVSA-MW is proud to announce that the 2010 Summer Extravaganza will be this August 6-8, 2010 at Nelson Dewey State Park in Cassville, Wisconsin.

Start looking for your sleeping bags and tents because this year will be bigger and better than ever! This year will be three days! That means more food, more fun, and more time for friends!

Check out the information page for more details and then head on over to registration! See you all in August!

Facebook Event

Congratulations to the Vietnamese Student Association of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign!

After an amazing conference in Madison, Wisconsin, we were on a search for a great school and organization to host the next conference. We are pleased to announce that Urbana-Champaign, IL, will be hosting the 2011 Vietnamese Interacting as One Conference!

We here at UVSA-Midwest highly encourage all organizations and schools to submit bids to host future conferences. The set date for the conference will be announced at a later time. Stay tuned for updates on planning committee applications and other information about the 2011 conference!

We are excited to work with UIUC’s VSA and staff members from around the Midwest to host another successful VIA-1! And we hope to see you in the spring for the 9th Annual VIA-1 Conference!

Registration

Early registration is ending May 31^st 11:59 pm EST! Hurry and take advantage of the great deal! After May 31^st, Regular registration will automatically start. Please visit our registration page!

www.unavsa.org/conference/registration

**Note** Making a profile without paying the fee before the end of may 31^st does not qualify you for the early bird special. Fees must be paid before the deadline.

Early Registration (Ends May 31^st) – $67.25
Regular Registration (Ends July 16^th) – $87.85
Late Registration – $103

Travel

Make sure to book airline tickets soon! Prices tend to be record high during the high volume months. Recently 5 major airlines add on fees for the summer. The longer you wait the more you pay! Below is the updated airline prices (since 5/26, kayak.com)

Click on this link for tips on saving money through travel!  http://unavsa.org/conference/2010/05/save-money-on-travel-to-unavsa-7-conference-july-29-august-1-2010/

Atlanta (ATL) – $285
Austin (AUS) – $284
Boise (BOI) – $528
Boston (BOS) – $325
Charleston (CHS) – $252
Chicago (MDW) – $275
Chicago (ORD) – $275
Cleveland (CLE) – $334
Dallas (DFW) – $290
Denver (DEN) – $266
Detroit (DTT) – $291
Houston (HOU) – $292
Indianapolis (IND) – $293
Jacksonville (JAX) – $240
Las Vegas (LAS) – $348
Los Angeles (LAX) – $322
Madison (MSN) – $179
Milwaukee (MKE) – $240
Minneapolis (MSP) – $294
New Orleans (MSY) – $283
New York (JFK) – $161
New York (LGA) – $233
Oakland (OAK) – $374
Oklahoma City (OKC) – $385
Orlando (MCO) -  $247
Philadelphia (PHL) – $317
Phoenix (PHX) – $300
Pittsburgh (PIT) to – $252
Portland (PDX) – $466
Raleigh (RDU) – $240
Sacramento (SMF) – $435
San Antonio (SAT)-$332
San Diego (SAN) – $359
San Francisco (SFO) -$395
San Jose (SJC) -$381
Seattle (SEA) – $354
St. Louis (STL) – $283
Windsor Locks (BDL) – $252

See you in Washington D.C.!

For the latest Updates

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Come take advantage of this great opportunity to meet and network with members from across the nation!!! Help represent the Midwest! If you have any questions, email staff@uvsamidwest.org and we’ll be happy to answer any and all concerns!

My Midwest is more region than your region.

Click HERE for the application.

Doors open at 6:45pm

Thanh Pham will be Miss VSA in the pageant, and the VSA girls will be performing a traditional Vietnamese fan and umbrella dance.

Featured Performances:
Purdue aKDphi
Boiler Breakers
Purdue DPhiL
Purdue Raas
Vietnamese Student Association & Filipino Student Association
Magic Show
Mr. Asia 2009 – Hans Duong
DJ Ascension

Pre-sale Ticket Prices:
Regular: $8
VIP: $10 (closer to stage)
Limited number for sale for each kind of ticket.
At the door: $10

Dress code: Smart casual with no flipflops/sandals

Purdue University (Stewart Center)
128 Memorial Mall
West Lafayette, IN 47907

For more information, contact VSA President Jackie Nguyen at (505) 652-2546 or email her at nguyenjt@purdue.edu!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=1118477654933013

My name is Sonya Wu and I am the External Vice President of VSA at Northern Illinois University (NIU). On behalf of the VSA @ NIU, I would like to invite all the members of Midwest VSAs to our most anticipated event of the year, our Eight Annual Cultural Show on Saturday, April 10, 2010.

This once a year event comes as a celebration to our very own Vietnamese culture and ethnicity. The event includes varieties of performances, such as dances, fashion show, martial arts, dragon dance, singing, and much more. It would be a good opportunity to come meet new friends or visit old ones.

Event: VSA’s Eight Annual Culture Show @ NIU
Theme: “Back To Our Roots or Vietnam” / “Tro Ve Nguon Goc”
Date: Saturday, April 10, 2010
Time: Doors open at 5:00pm / Show goes from 6:00pm – 8:00 pm
Location: The Savannah Room
South Pointe Banquet and Conference Centre
200 Gurler Road
DeKalb, Illinois 60115

It would mean a lot to us if you can come out and support VSA @ NIU.

If you have any questions or concerns, please email us at NIUVSA@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday April 10, 2010!!

Sonya Wu
External VP
NIUVSA@gmail.com
(312) 532-5704

Thank you for coming to the 8th Annual Vietnamese Interacting as One Conference. Because of you, the conference was a success!

This weekend was full of such great words of wisdom, great opportunities, and great memories. Go Big or Go Home. That was definitely the attitude for this year’s conference. Everyone went in with open minds and open hearts and learned more about themselves and our roots.

We hope you remember all the great things that happened that amazing weekend. The creative family mascots, Lac Su’s empowering words, “Forget about saving face, because if we keep quiet – we don’t get a voice,” and the incredible workshops. Beau Sia’s passionate and smooth poetry, the unforgettable celebration at the Orpheum, and most importantly, remembering that anything is possible.

Thanks again for coming! We cannot wait to see all your faces at the upcoming events!

Sincerely,

Dan Huynh and Chan Huynh

Survey

To help us make the VIA-1 bigger and better every year, please take a few minutes to fill out this conference survey. It will only take a few minutes of your time. At the end of the survey you will find the direct links to the two group pictures we took on Sunday morning. If you’ve already taken the survey, the picures can be found below. http://bit.ly/2010VIA1Survey

Group Pictures

To download the group pictures, please visit http://www.via1.org/media

Lisa’s CPP Message

VIA-1 Attendees, I really appreciate all the effort & donations that went into the crazy Polar Plunge, the now-famous white donation box and your individual school fundraisers. You really did a wonderful thing. Vietnamese American history began with our parents and elders making a bold and perilous escape amidst chaos in a crumbling country in the name of freedom. They arrived in the US, against all odds; no money, often no education, no language and no understanding of western culture. They worked long and hard hours, day in and day out for so many years, so that all of us could have the homes, cars, education and privileges that we have today. Their stories of raising some of the greatest young student leaders in the US, like yourselves, are the cornerstones of Vietnamese American history. Your contributions mean that the stories of our brave and valiant elders will be told, written down and preserved. Imagine how well they will sleep, knowing that there is generation of people behind them that will carry on their legacy. Talk about honor and respect! You, VSAs of the Midwest, have the utmost respect and gratitude from the Vietnamese American Heritage Foundation, uNAVSA, the CPP Committee and many young and old Vietnamese Americans today who have untold stories. Again, thank you so much for all you’ve done for the “500 Oral Histories Project.”

One of the main highlights of the conference is the banquet dinner, in which you will be able to dress up and enjoy a fun-filled evening complete with a full-course dinner served at the Concourse Ballroom, located in the #1 hotel in Madison. Here you will be able to mingle and network with everyone you met earlier in the day and also be enlightened by the famous slam poet, Beau Sia. This banquet dinner should be reason enough for you to attend the conference!

Most of our parents had a dream for their children of the land where dreams can come true, where one can choose to have endless amounts of opportunity, where one can be rich or poor, and where one can grasp their dream and run with it.

For all of us in the United States of America, we live the dream that our parents dreamt. We all have different dreams, but have one goal in common, which is to succeed in life and achieve the “American dream.”
In relation to VIA-1 conference, we are trying to capture the struggles from dreaming to making our dreams real. The essence of a dream stem from motivators which drives one to achieve one’s goal by creating the steps towards making one’s dream a reality. Each of us are at a point in our life in which we can take that one extra step, from possibility to actuality.

Register before March 8, 2009 and it’s only $50!

Why should you register and attend this conference?

> Keynote speakers:
Lac Su, author of “I Love Yous Are For White People”
&
Mr. Beau Sia, Slam Poet, writer, winner of a Tony Award for Russel Simmon’s Def Poetry Jam.

> Workshops:

—Social Issues Facing Vietnamese Americans—

Me Love You Long Time:
Politics of Sexuality for Vietnamese and Asian Americans

Revisiting the Model Minority Myth

Where are you from? No, I mean, where are you really from?:
The Perpetual Foreigner Dilemma

—Professional Development—
(Still to come)

> Banquet
Come dress up and impress all the new friend’s you just made at the Concourse Hotel

> Networking
The chance to make both professional and personal relationships and create lasting memories.

http://www.via1.org/registration/

More information can be found at VIA-1.org

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=288454126989