At the beginning of January, a new club centered on the culture and community of Vietnam began. Its officers, who all come from Vietnamese backgrounds, are excited to share their origins with their peers at MHS.
Junior Beverly Tong, Vice President of the club, noted that there were vast challenges and setbacks in the club’s creation, including “issues with interest and… timing.” Although those issues left the future of the potential club to be uncertain, Tong and the other officers decided to move forward and choose teacher Carlos Lu as their club advisor since “he showed the most interest in the Vietnamese club.”
When asked about the club’s future goals, Tong was adamant in sharing that she was most excited about the food aspect of the club and how it can be used as a learning experience for those both familiar and unfamiliar with the culture’s cuisine. “I really love Viet food honestly, and I want to learn more about it. Especially because at home, even though I’m half Chinese, we primarily make Viet food. I want to bring more to people who… don’t share the same culture as me.”
The club’s outreacher, junior Jennifer Slawson, is excited to collaborate with other ethnic groups and clubs in and outside of the high school to make her culture as known as possible: “I want to help collab with other [cultural] groups… for example, we want to collab with Tết in Boston to help spread Vietnamese culture amongst our peers.”
Although the club is only a few weeks old, Tong has big plans for its future and hopes it will become a more permanent club at the school. “So not only is it a place to share and spread Vietnamese culture, but I want it to be a pillar… in this community,” she said. “When we graduate, I want other people to take this club to expand and further everything that happens.”
Slawson added to Tong’s ideas and expressed that since “food is a big part of [Vietnamese] culture,” they plan on integrating that into future fundraising opportunities, like “learning how to make cultural food, and then we can sell it.”
So far, the club has only hosted one meeting, and officers plan to host bi-weekly meetings on Tuesday in Lu’s room, BR462. To keep up with the club and its potential upcoming events, follow @maldenvsa on Instagram.
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