MOST OUTSTANDING Organization NOMINEE
University of Southern Mississippi Vietnamese Student Association (USMVSA)
What are the purpose and goal(s) of your organization, and how has it met or exceeded those goals?
The Vietnamese Student Association at the University of Southern Mississippi (USMVSA) strives to preserve our Vietnamese identity and culture as well as foster unity within our community. We are committed to upholding our values through engagement with social events, philanthropic projects, and community service. Within the 2025-2026 academic year, USMVSA has strived above and beyond expectations in ensuring that VSA is a home away from home.
USMVSA is coming back from a hiatus with the intention of rebuilding a once-thriving foundation. We hoped to build a consistent and culturally centered community and establish pieces together to ensure the next generation of USMVSA leaders can take over and thrive under comfortable conditions. A revival comes with innovation, and that innovation leads to new upbringings. For the 2025-2026 academic year, USMVSA has ensured, through multiple social events and charitable drives, that future successors can continue the legacy that previous generations have entrusted us with. With this in mind, we are proud to say that USMVSA will have its first successors since the 2022-2023 academic year.
Address how your organization was outstanding in the following areas: recruitment, marketing, outreach to campus community, use of resources, officer training and event planning.
It was important for us to understand that in order to build a membership count from 0 to sustainable growth, it would require patience and a lot of effort. USMVSA was active in participating in the University of Southern Mississippi’s Involvement Fairs. Additionally, we reached out to past members and alumni who would like to potentially support us during this new journey through active participation or charitable donations through past GroupMe USMVSA chats and social media. In order to retain attention and members, it was important to give exclusive access to events, discounted pricing for events, and new T-shirts for members to represent the organization.
Being able to appeal to the general public and our members was key, as it was important for maximizing outreach. Firstly, we created a brand-new Discord to mark the new age in USMVSA, and it has since been more interactive than previous years. If there’s no in-person event, we make sure to substitute that with an online Game Night for our online members. Our TikTok activity was reactivated during the spring semester with videos promoting our events and philanthropy drives through funny and creative trends. Most importantly, Instagram was our biggest ally for promotion as we garnered over 153,000 views and crossed 1,100 Instagram followers.
Although our online presence was something that we could stand proud of, our efforts towards building valuable connections and relationships with our local community were just as important. USMVSA revived previous relationships with USM-established institutes such as the Baptist Student Union and the Union. These connections made allowed USMVSA easier access to venues and spaces for our events and fundraisers. USMVSA also made new connections with the Eagle Gaming Club, SASE, and the Chinese Student and Scholars Association (a newfound relationship that allows for future cultural collaborations). Most importantly, we met our goals of wanting to be more culturally involved on campus than in previous years, and that was achieved through collaborations such as International Game Night and Cultural Food Fest, events where we could share our culture with others as well as embrace other student organizations’ cultures.
Lastly, being resourceful allowed for the planning of events and fundraisers to be easier as we reached out to local businesses such as Pho Saigon to cater food for our new event, Autumn Kickoff Bash. Bringing back our once-popular fundraiser, Egg Roll Fest, and renovating it to Rolling with VSA was a success, as we reached out to over 800 staff and faculty members and sold well above expectations. Likewise, our connections with different USM departments such as Career Services allowed for campus-wide engagement for our new fundraiser, Pie a VSA. Through multiple fundraisers and events, we tripled the profits that we started with.
How did the organization work together to maximize strengths and overcome weaknesses?
USMVSA has previously struggled with fostering a tight relationship and maintaining strong chemistry. This year we made it an emphasis to enjoy this year through bonding and group activities. Due to our commitment to making E-board a more fun space for expression of personality and ideas, it was reflected in our event, promotions, and outreach. When dealing with a rebuild and starting over again, it was important for us to have fun doing it, or else it would have felt like a chore and our work would not have felt as meaningful to our members and ourselves.
Provide specific examples of how the student group demonstrated growth and development in the 2024-2025 academic year.
From the start, where the majority of the E-board had no leadership experience, to now, where everyone is a leader in their own way, many, if not all, E-board members have showcased professional growth and developed transferable skills that can benefit them in multiple aspects of their lives. In the beginning, planning within meetings was awkward and did not feel cohesive. The first general meeting reflected the inexperience, and we knew we had to improve. Fast forward to today: the E-board is more than confident in their ability to demonstrate exceptional leadership and professionalism. Each member keeps the others accountable in their work, and not a moment goes by when they allow anyone to sink in their own work, as we entered this rebuild as a family and came out as a family.