UNO documentary: Vietnamese-American Students at the University of New Orleans

Khang Tong, Senior Advisor of Vietnamese-American Student Association at University of New Orleans

Film by UNO student and documentary filmmaker Kirstin Johnson

The Vietnamese-American Student Association is not only a program at UNO, it is a collective under the organization AAsia. They help with collaboration events in order to put together various VASAs in order to help with charity and philanthropic efforts.

Khang Tong was inspired to get involved in VASA from his brother, who was involved with his own Asia student organization at Loyola. Tong wasn’t exposed to a lot of Vietnamese or Asian families when he was in high school, so when he got to college all of that changed.

There was some resistance to joining the organization at first, but once Tong broke out of his shell and started meeting new people, it pushed him to not only be a part of VASA, but also take a position in the organization. Challenges are always present for organizations and juggling all the debates and opinions that occur during meetings are something that Tong is constantly working through. The collaboration and the end result makes it all worth it for Tong.

With people long Tong and the various member of VASA, they hope to not only continue doing what they’re doing but also grow and have an even larger impact on their community.