NGUOI VIET - Mentoring today to train tomorrow's leaders

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Mentoring today to train tomorrow's leaders
Saturday, December 10, 2005 By Julie Vo

IT TAKES TWO: We can accomplish more things when we work together, and for that reason, group leaders match wits, match talents, to team each student with the right “guide.” Participant Luân Nguyễn, right, praises the advice of mentor Don Lương.

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Walking into the room, I squint as my eyes adjust to the harsh glare of the fluorescent lighting. The aroma of fried chicken permeates, its smell wafting from the open box atop a table in the middle, surrounded by crumbs. Chairs and tables stand askew; handouts are scattered.

The students arriving earlier than the rest dive into the food, haggling latecomers as the group of 20 congregates. A new face in this setting can almost instantly sense the air of familiarity in the room. Jokes are cracked at every lull in the session, as there is usually a heavy dose of energy and laughter among pupils.

Welcome to the weekly Tuesday meeting of Project MotiVATe, otherwise known as Mentoring Vietnamese American Teens, where mentors and their charges gather for tutoring sessions and much more.

The project started in 1996 as Camp for Youth with the intention of staging a summer experience for Vietnamese Americans. Today, it has grown into the only youth program in Orange County serving Vietnamese and American-born Vietnamese teenagers by offering free tutoring and mentoring, thanks to support from the Union of Vietnamese Student Associations and to space and resources offered by the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance.

What emerges this evening and succeeding evenings is a full-fledged academic program, linking with parents and school staff to boost a mission to influence Vietnamese American youngsters using a holistic approach — taking into consideration social, familial, and cultural factors and encouraging participants to graduate from high school or get a GED and pursue higher education.

Along the way, they have become a close-knit group.

One of the students, Luân Nguyễn, reclines in a chair and readies himself for the two hours ahead. As his peers and volunteers trickle in, he clears his throat, leans back and opens his textbook. At 16, he is a seasoned mentee, having been a part of Project MotiVATe for three years. Near the end of eighth-grade, he had been invited with other friends to camp. The team-building activities, delicious meals and genuinely friendly counselors left a lasting impression on him, so much that the following year, he invited other pals and the six of them went together.

Luân, naturally quiet and a self-proclaimed reformed trouble-maker, has seen a change in his own character once his involvement began.

“Since I started going to study hall, I’m doing better in school. I want to make my parents proud. I know what it’s like to work as hard as they do because I see things differently now,” he says. “Before, I wasn’t very talkative, but I have more confidence in myself now. I’m not embarrassed to talk in front of a big group of people, and I think that’s because of Project MotiVATe.”

Luân’s mentor, Don Lương, attests to the change within the past 12 months.

“Luân was much quieter when I first met him last year,” he says. “He seems to have stepped up as a leader. He’s matured a lot in the sense that he’s much more open about issues and has a greater understanding of hardship and respects his parents. I see that he helps to motivate the other students as well. He’s great to have around.”

The mentor-mentee relationship and the mutual trust and confidence they develop with one another is a core component of the program. Luân recognizes the impact that Don has had on him.

“Don is fun to be around and he’s really helpful. He works so hard for us and tries everything he can to help us stay out of trouble,” the mentee says. Such positive influences have made a significant impact on Luân’s own goals.

“I think that as Vietnamese teenagers, we have strict parents. Our parents work really hard, so they push us to work hard... I think a lot of people just think that all Asians are smart, why do they need to go to tutoring? They never talk about the Asians who struggle in school. I want to be a mentor when I grow up, to help kids like me.”

Such misperceptions about Vietnamese teens are evidence of the compelling need for a program such as Project MotiVATe. Lương, 23, a recent graduate of the University of California, Irvine, says, “Our Vietnamese community really looks to the teens as the future and they care about our youth, but there are two spectrums. There are the “at-risk” youth, who do not receive a lot of help and at times, are pushed to the side. On the other hand, you have those students who excel academically and are very school-oriented. It creates a dichotomy between the two groups. There are peer and social pressures for both sides, with parents often times comparing and pressuring the two.”

So the presence of college and recent graduate mentors bridges an apparent generational gap. Parents rely on mentors to communicate their concerns to their children and mentors find themselves in an important position — knowing the pupils well enough to share their positions with moms and dads, while having parents respect their opinions. It is this role which makes Project MotiVATe such a relevant resource in the Vietnamese community today, a role that could lead to other things.

“I envision our program to be the catalyst to jumpstart the development of a Vietnamese American community center. This center will house youth and family services provided by various nonprofit agencies”, says Newton Hoàng, program director. He notes that as the largest population of Vietnamese outside of Việt Nam, Orange County needs such a center “to reflect the faces of our community,” adding: “But the success of our community relies on the investment into our youth today.”

For how to get involved, check out www.projectmotivate.org.

Photo courtesy of Julie Võ.

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