Check-in Time: 6:00pm Friday May 25th
Check-out Time: 2:00pm Monday May 28th, 2007

Introduction

The goal of VCSA’s National Youth Leadership development camp is to develop future leaders for Asian-American communities, specially focusing on Vietnamese-Americans.

Objectives

The objectives of the camp are to:

• To increase the sense of community ownership and responsibility among young people.

• To encourage young community activists to sharpen their leadership skills through leadership education and hands-on experience.

• To allow participants to network with their peers and share their experiences over the years of community involvement.

• To build cultural heritage awareness to bridge the generation gap in the Vietnamese-American community.

• Young community leaders or young professional already involved in community projects.

• Leaders of other youth-led organizations with a strong interest in community involvement.

• Vietnamese American Student Association officers for all U.S. and Canada universities.

 Measure Of Success

To measure our success, we will:

• Request evaluations from campers and post the results on our Web site.

• Count the number of campers who become officers in their local community organizations after the camp.

• Track the number of campers involved with community work and see an increased by 15 percent (i.e. 15 percent of campers after the camp are inspired to become leaders or active members in an organization); gather first-hand accounts.

• Encourage campers to help organize the next camp Len Duong.

• Ms Janet Nguyen was elected to the Garden Grove City Council on November 2, 2004, coming in first out of nine candidates. She is the first woman to serve on the City Council in nearly 35 years and the youngest member ever to be elected. 

  Janet has served on the Garden Grove Planning Commission, the Garden Grove Traffic Commission, and was a former board member for the Orange County Alcohol and Drug Advisory Board. She has worked for two former Chairmen of the Orange County Board of Supervisors and former Orange County Assemblyman as the District Director. 

  Janet dedicates countless hours to different organizations throughout Garden Grove. She is currently a Board Member for the Garden Grove Hospital and Center for a Brand New Day. She is also a member of Soroptimist International of Garden Grove and former Associate Member of the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival Association, former Board Member of the Grove Theatre Center and Senior Meals on Wheels. In addition, she owns a consulting business for public and community relations and the former Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce. 

  Janet has been recognized by the Asian Pacific American Legislative Staff Association as the first Vietnamese American in California to hold the District Director position for a state or federal legislator's office.  She has been awarded the We Give Thanks' 2004 Women of Vision Award, which recognizes outstanding women who have provided exceptional services to the community.  In addition, the Orange County Register Newspaper has listed her as one of the "30 Vietnamese Americans To Watch" and was named as the OC Metro Magazine 2006's "25 Hottest" People in Orange County .

  Janet is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine where she received a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science. A strong supporter of education, Janet taught the Law Student Admission Test's (LSAT) preparation course to potential law students for Princeton Review

  Born in Saigon, Vietnam, Janet and her family escaped their homeland on a small wooden 10-foot boat sailing across the South China Sea in search of freedom and democracy.   Janet and her family arrived in California in 1981.  Janet has lived in Garden Grove, Orange County for more than fifteen years with her family and three siblings.

  Janet resides in Garden Grove with her husband Tom Bonikowski and their three dogs.
   

• Mr Dat Nguyen: past Dallas-Cowboy Football Player - currently in the Coach Team of Dallas Cowboy NFL Born in September 1975 in Arkansas, Dat Nguyen came into this world just to show that hard work, motivation, and tremendous discipline can pave quiet a sterling path for one.
  
  Like many Vietnamese families, Dat’s clan of seven, which includes his parents and five siblings, left their war-torn native country to settle in the promising land of America. Only four months in his mother’s womb, Dat could not possibly fathom or witness the turmoil and despair of what his family members and 2 million other Vietnamese refugees went through. With gunfire exploding from their enemy and the bombing of their own people, Dat’s parents frantically round their children together to make their escape. They drifted for days on the choppy sea with little food and water and finally reached Thailand. Two months later they were flown to the United States where Dat was born in Fort Chaffee, Arkansas. They moved to Michigan shortly after to live with their sponsored family. Not used to the bitter cold weather from the north, Dat’s father transferred his family down to Texas where he established his business in the shrimping industry. Currently, Dat resides in the Dallas area while his family still lives in Rockport, Texas, where they own the now famous Hu-Dat Restaurant, which was named after Dat and his brother Hung.
  
  As one of the most decorated collegiate football players, Nguyen was a consensus Texas Top 100 linebacker following his prep career at Rockport-Fulton High School in Rockport, Texas. He earned district 30-3A Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior after tallying 188 tackles. He also earned Class 3A second-team all-state honors as a punter. Nguyen graduated from Texas A&M with a degree in agricultural development in August 1998 and took post-graduate classes during his senior football season. He has taken an active role in the Dallas community. During the 2002 season, Nguyen and his wife, Becky, served as guest participants at the Cowboys annual NFL 201 Football Workshop for Women benefiting The Salvation Army. The couple talked about life in the NFL from the player's and the wife's perspective with the female attendees. He annually participates as a celebrity football coach for the club's annual Dallas Cowboys Let Us Play! Sports Camp for Girls. Coach Nguyen led his group to the mock "Super Bowl" victories in 2001 and 2002. In 2001, he took part in the Linebacker's Blitz Hunger at The Salvation Army as part of the Hams for the Holiday program, where players distributed hams to needy families. The Dallas Cowboys Salvation Army Angel Tree program, which provides clothing and toys to underprivileged children, the Children's Cancer Fund Fashion Show and Luncheon annually co-chaired by Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach and the Dallas Race for the Cure benefiting the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research are charity events that the Nguyen's continue to support year after year. Dat and wife Becky added a daughter, Aubrey Mai (6/26/03), to their family in the off-season of 2005.
  
  VCSA is grateful for Dat Nguyen’s contribution as the Keynote Speaker for the National Youth Leadership Camp Len Duong 2000 in Fort Worth, Texas and for his and Becky’s presence at our Spring Gala in 2005 as our Guests of Honor for our 15th Anniversary Celebration. Now when we celebrate our 10th anniversary of camp Len Duong, we are delighted to welcome Dat Nguyen as our Speical Honor Guest.
   

• Mr Dat Duc Nguyen: artist - musician and guitarist - California
  
  Dat Nguyen was born in 1971 in Viet Nam, blind from birth and orphaned at age five. He began his music studies at age eleven, playing drums, and became interested in classical music two years later. In 1988, a friend introduced him to the recordings of Andres Segovia, and an immediate enchantment with the guitar and its music led him to decide to devote his life to studying and performing on the classical guitar.
  
  Dat and his younger sister came to the United States in 1991 under the auspices of the ODP, since Dat's father had been an American serviceman. For the next two and a half years, Dat had little opportunity for formal study of the guitar. In 1993, still in high school, he was a prize-winning guitarist in the Disney Creativity Challenge. Later that year, he enrolled as a guitar performance major at California State University, Fullerton, under the direction of David Grimes.
  
  In 1994, Dat won the Southern California ASTA Solo Guitar Competition, and went on to win first prize at the Califonia state finals. An extensive1995 article in the Orange County Register on his life and achievements led to many performance invitations, including a showcase at the Westminster Mall's Asian New Year's Festival in 1996. The same article also inspired a feature article subsequently published in the March, 1997 issue of the Reader's Digest.
  
  While working to complete his college studies, Dat performs regularly for audiences throughout southern California. In November, 1996 he was presented on the Multi-Cultural Arts Series in San Juan Capistrano, where he was the first Vietnamese artist to be so recognized. He was one of the artists presented on the Guest Artist Series at Pacific Union College in November, 1997.
  
  Dat was a California representative and a national finalist in the 1996-1997 Very Special Arts Program, sponsored by Panasonic. In April of 1997 he was the feature performer at the "Imagine This" Festival at Main Place in Santa Ana.
  
  In June, 1997 Dat was the "headliner" for the "Informally Yetits" program at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, offering ten performances over two weeks to a variety of audiences ranging from young children to the Arts Center Founders. In July 1997, he performed in a spedal "Young Soloists Showcase" at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. He has been selected for the "From the Center" outreach program that takes artists and their music to many southland schools.
  
  Dat has performed with the Philharmonic Society Youth Orchestra at the Orange County Performing Arts Center and at Los Angeles' Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. He has completed a Bachelor's degree in Classical Guitar Performance at Califontia State University, Fullerton (May, 1999). He performs frequently with "Inner Vision," a guitar quartet that specializes in original music with a flamenco and Latin flavor.
  
  Dat's goal is to continue building a career as a concert guitarist, composer and teacher. He has been very active in the Southern California Vietnamese community, raising substantial funds for the Vietnamese Refugee Fund in 1996. Dat was selected by the Orange County Register as one of fifteen people representing the varied aspects of Orange County culture at the close of the millennium.
   

• Resource Staffs:
  1 - LEAP (Leadership Training for Asian Pacifics) www.leap.org
  2 - Dr. Julia Wai-Yin So, Director of Community Development, Dallas County Community College
  3 - Mr. Kien Nguyen, Writer (author of "The Unwanted", "The Tapestries")
  4 - Dr. Quan A. Cao, Professor, Palm Beach Community College, Florida
  5 - Dian Bifano, Associate Dean, Communication Professor, Palm Beach Community College, Boca Raton, Florida
  6 - Mr. Jeff Watkins, Executive Director of YMCA International Services.
  7 - Mr. Bao Nguyen, Founder of Vietnamese Culture and Science Association.

• $120.00/person (including T-Shirt, eleven meals during the three-day camp and air-conditioned lodging) if register on or before April 20, 2007.
• After April 20 (on availability basis) $130.00 per person.
• VCSA member or full-time student receives $10.00 off.
• Refund policy: Camp fee will be refunded in full for cancellation received by May 4, 2007.
• Please NOTE: the above cut off date is based on the post marked on the envelope.

• Complete one registration form per person.
• Provide as much information about yourself as possible, especially the emergency contact number.  Your information is kept completely confidential and used for camp administrative purposes only.
• Provide a VALID EMAIL ADDRESS.  We communicate with you about camp related matters only via email.  If you don't have an email address you can create one, free at http://www.yahoo.com or http://www.hotmail.com before you return here to register.
• Incomplete information will delay the process of your registration.
• If this is your first time to register for the 2007 Len Duong camp, click on "New User Sign Up Here" button.
  If you have attended Len Duong camp before, you need to register again this year.
• Upon completing your registration form and after clicking SUBMIT button, you will receive an acknowledgement email within an hour or so that we are processing your request. If you don't receive the acknowledgement email, contact the registration team at registration@vhkhvn.org.
• In a day or two you will receive a confirmation email which you will need to print out, sign and mail back (via US Postal Service) with  your check (or) money order, no cash please.
• If you logon subsequently to update your information or check your payment status, then enter your CampID (or) Email Address and password.  Click on "Sign In" button.
• Click here to begin the Online Registration.

May 18, 2007

Fill out the Online Registration above and mail-in the payment (write down the Confirmation Number on your check upon receiving the confirmation number from the camp staff).  Check should be made payable to Vietnamese Culture and Science Association) and mail it as soon as possible after registered online to:

Vietnamese Culture and Science Association
c/o Len Duong Camp
4615 Belle Park Dr.
Houston, TX 77072

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FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1.      What is the purpose of the Len Duong Camp?

      The purpose of Len Duong camp is to create an environment where community activists can exchange ideas, learn leadership and team building skills, be encouraged to continue community involvement, and to learn Vietnamese culture and history. 

 2.      Who are the campers?

      The targeted campers are between 18 to 35 years old including college students, community activists, and professionals from across the U.S and Canada. Also those who are committed to developing leadership skills and interested in meeting other young, active Vietnamese North Americans over four days in a camp setting for best-practices sharing and networking should consider Len Duong Camp.

 3.      When did the first Len Duong camp take place?

      The first Len Duong camp was established in 1998 in Fort Worth, Texas.

 4.      Please explain the meaning of Len Duong.

      Len Duong, which is "Embark", means embarking on a journey or starting a new adventure. By attending Len Duong camp, you will participate in a journey in which you will learn to develop your leadership ability and your cultural heritage.

 5.      Who are the Len Duong organizers?

      Len Duong camp was established by the Vietnamese Culture and Science Association (VCSA).  Len Duong is supported every year by many other organizations and businesses.  Len Duong 2006 will be hosted by the Washington DC chapter of the VCSA with the collaboration of other VCSA chapters in Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Diego, and Toronto- Canada.

 6.      Is Len Duong camp affiliated with the Len Duong International Vietnamese Youth Network (Mang Luoi Tuoi Tre Len Duong)?

      No, Len Duong Camp is not affiliated nor associated with the Len Duong International Vietnamese Youth Network.  Len Duong Camp was established one year before the Len Duong International Vietnamese Youth Network was established.

 7.      When and where will Len Duong Camp take place this year?

      Len Duong camp will be held during the Memorial Holiday weekend, May 25-28, 2007 at Collin County Adventure Camp, Anna, Texas.  It is approximately 45 miles from Dallas.

 8.      What is the duration of Len Duong camp?

      The camp will last four days.  It begins at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 25, 2007 and ends at 2 p.m. on Monday, May 28, 2007.

 9.      What is the agenda for those four days?

      The Len Duong camp program includes many activities such as workshops and forums focused on leadership skills development, team building, and Vietnamese culture and history. The program also provides opportunities for campers to exchange and share ideas on how to improve community and to get people involved.  There will be fun games, team challenges and many outdoor activities to accentuate the importance of teamwork as well as the uniqueness of Vietnamese cultural heritage and history. 

      There will also be a "powwow" bonfire on Saturday night for a youth forum discussion and on Sunday night to entertain and showcase each others’ talent.

 10.  I am 17 years old but I am very active in the community.  Can I be given an exception to attend camp Len Duong 2007?

      As stated in question 2 above, Camp Len Duong is for campers who are 18 years old or older.  Please wait until you turn 18 to be eligible for this camp.

 11.  Which languages will be used at camp Len Duong 2007?

      English and Vietnamese will be used at camp Len Duong 2007.  Most of our programs will be bilingual.

 12.  How do I register for camp Len Duong?

      On top of this page, click on Online Registration and follow the instructions.  After completing the online registration form, you will receive an email within minutes acknowledging that the registration has been received.  After a couple of days, if your registration is approved, you will receive a confirmation email with a waiver form attached.  You will need to sign the Waiver form and mail it along with your registration payment.  Once the VCSA receives your payment, your record will be updated on the VCSA database and you are all set.

 13.  What if I have problems with the online registration?

      If, after having completed the online registration and having clicked the submit button, you do not receive a confirmation email, please contact the VCSA registration team at registration@vhkhvn.org and ask for help.  We will respond to you ASAP.

 14.  Who should I call if I have any questions?

      There is a contact list of people that you can call for questions about camp Len Duong posted on our web site.  See contact list on Len Duong camp web page.

 15.  Does camp Len Duong offer religious services on the Sunday morning of the camp?

      Yes, camp Len Duong always provides religious services for Catholics and Buddhists early Sunday morning.

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Contact Persons

Austin, TX
	(512) 656-4817

Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
	(214) 335-3394	(214) 457-2757

Houston, TX
	(832) 443-3323	(972) 900 8275

Los Angeles, CA
	(714) 277-0574

Oklahoma City, OK
	(405) 822-3815

Toronto, CANADA
	(416) 890-8947
Washington, DC
	(757) 218-8632

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Sponsors:

Underwriters

Benefactors

The Catholic University of America

Patrons

Vietnamese American Scholarship Fund

Sponsors

Friend

Supporters

 

Send mail to vhkh@vhkhvn.org with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 1997 The Vietnamese Culture & Science Association
Last modified: May 20, 2007