I still remember that day when I opened the Lang Magazine and saw the notice regarding the Vietnamese American Scholastic Achievement Award (Le Phat Thuong) when I was still a senior in High School. As I read the newsletter, I was surprised and somewhat happy to find out that we had such program for the Vietnamese community in Sacramento. At that point, I was a 4.1 student who was well qualified for this award, yet, I was so uninterested, uninvolved, and uninformed to realize how meaningful this event could have been to me, as well as other Vietnamese American students. A year later, as I became the Vice President of Sacramento City College Vietnamese Students Club, I was lucky enough to get involved in the Le Phat Thuong organization. It was when was actively involved in the organization, I finally realize the significance of this event to our Vietnamese Community. Throughout the year, I went to all the meetings and got to see our project grows day by day from the brainstorming to implementing process with my very own eyes. This year, in order to push this Le Phat Thuong event to the next level, the committee also host the fundraising dinner on May 20th, hoping to obtain more donations from the community. The fundraising event was a great success. Many parents and community leaders came out and supported us. When I was speaking for the opening of the Fundraising Dinner, I eventually realized I’ve already became a part of this organization, or, family.
This year’s award ceremony was the fruit of our hard work. Since Le Phat Thuong is a non-profit organization, our works are purely volunteers. Our volunteer team includes business professionals, teachers, college counselors, professors, and college students. Sometimes, we got overwhelmed and exhausted by our everyday life; yet, our core team members would never miss any meetings. As we worked on our project, we all had our disagreements and misunderstandings, but at the end of the day, everybody made up and got together as one big team.
Throughout the Award Ceremony, there were a lot of thoughts running through my mind. As the Check-in receptionist from First to Third Grade, I was lucky to get to see many faces of the hardworking students who were 6-8 years old. Most of them got signed up by their own parents and had no idea what to expect of this Ceremony. As the result, they all gave me the anxious, worried and somewhat fearful looks. But I couldn’t help smiling and telling them, as well as their parents, how honored and proud I am, to be able to serve them on that day. I was also directing all the students from their seat to the stage to get the certificate. While I was standing there, I asked a first grade student (who seemed worried) if he was excited to be called on stage. He looked at me nervously and said, “No, I feel embarrassed because everyone is watching me.” On my mind, I couldn’t stop laughing at his silly yet normal feeling for a kid at 6 years old. But I managed to keep my cool and said something funny hoping to cheer him up. Yet, he got even more confused for some reason. Then I laugh at my silliness since my inspirational speech was in Vietnamese and he wasn’t very fluent in Vietnamese. I stood there for a moment, trying to put all my thought together. And I said, “You know, you should be very very proud of yourself because of the things that you’ve accomplished to be here today. At this moment, your parents, mấy chú mấy bác, and I are all here to celebrate your academic hardwork and achievement. I am very honored if you could give me the chance to hold your hand and walk you when you are called to the stage.” He went from being surprised, smiled and then gave his hand to me right after.
Needless to say, we have our shortcomings. The event could have been better if we were more punctual with our time schedule. Many technical problems could have been prevented if there was someone to check whether the school’s speaker system was working properly the night before. One deserving kid didn’t have to go home empty-handed if we prepared some extra certificates. Despite all those factors, it was one of the best experiences for me with many unforgettable moments that I will never forget while working for Le Phat Thuong. Le Phat Thuong truly deserves a well-applause from our community with its worthwhile cause and significant meaning to the Viet community. I promise myself not to let another well-deserving student miss out their chance to be publically recognized and awarded from their hardwork like I did last year.