Online Registration
Deadline to register extended to May
15th, 2004
Check-in Time: 6:00pm Friday May 28th
Check-out Time: 2:00pm Monday May 31st, 2004
Imagine a community where adults and youth make personal and social responsibility a priority, where people use their unique skills and talents to make their community a better place, where creative solutions, positive actions and kind words are the catalyst for change. The Vietnamese Culture and Science Association (VCSA) would like to invite you to share in a special vision for our community development.
The commitment to lifelong learning, achievement, and improvement usually begins at an early age. Young people who have accepted leadership roles in their organization or community and demonstrated an early commitment to others should be encouraged and supported in their development. With the rising of Vietnamese-American population in North America and the emerging of many youth-led community organizations, there is a growing demand to have a positive environment where young community activists can sharpen their leadership skills, network with their peers, and share their experiences over the years of community involvement. With that in mind, since 1998, VCSA has organized the annual National Youth Leadership Development Camp, namely Len Duong Camp (or “Embark on a Journey”).
The camp program is carefully designed to empower young Vietnamese-Americans to become effective leaders in their respective organizations through leadership education and hands-on experience. Each year, Len Duong Camp provides approximately 250 young people with the opportunity to develop their leadership skills in a camp setting. Participants are exposed to the concepts, elements, and process of leadership, learn to recognize group dynamics and to understand its effects on the leadership process, and enhance their powers of analysis relating to critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making, and conflict resolution.
In community service organizations, collaborations are frequent and essential for the success of delivering the desired impacts. Indeed, the Len Duong Camp project involved collaborations and partnerships between VCSA and many other community-based groups, educational institutions, small businesses, and corporations. We are especially fortunate to receive support from LEAP (Leadership for Asian Pacific, Inc.) for providing leadership development workshops and seminars at the camp since 2003.
In the past six years, Len Duong Camp has served over 1,600 young community activists and students. In this unique environment, campers have sharpened their leadership skills and realized their potential as future leaders. They return each year more motivated, more equipped for and committed to community involvement. Based on the feedback we have received from campers and on tracking actual campers’ community involvement, the impact of these camps has been one of the biggest success stories in the Vietnamese-American community. We would like to continue to build on what we have established. Len Duong Camp 2004 will take place at Camp Palomar in San Diego area during the Memorial Holiday weekend, May 28-31, 2004.
VCSA has fully committed its support and resources to this strategic project. A staff of 40 volunteers contributes approximately 6,000 hours of service to Len Duong Camp project each year. This project has proven successful in the past years.
The goal of VCSA’s National Youth Leadership development camp is to develop future leaders for Asian-American communities, specially focusing on Vietnamese-Americans.
The objectives of the camp are to:
Increase by 10 percent the number of campers who will be taking active leadership role after the camp (as measured by the number of youths who will become officers of their respective organizations after attending the camp);
Increase volunteerism by 20 percent (as measured by the number of youths involved in community activities after the camp);
Build a network where young people can share experiences and ideas;
Encourage friendship and open possibilities for the future collaboration of Vietnamese-American youth-led organizations across the nation in community projects; and
Build cultural heritage awareness to bridge the generation gap in the Vietnamese-American community; increase by 15 percent the number of campers who become more committed to learn about their roots and their cultural heritage.
Vietnamese-American Student Association officers for all U.S. and Canada universities.
Leaders of other youth-led organizations with a strong interest in community involvement.
Measure 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.
Resource Staffs:
1 - Mr. Nguyen, Ngoc Bao, chairman of the Board of Directors, VCSA
2 - Dr. Vu Pham, Consultant of LEAP
3 - Mr. Glenn Kawafuchi, Vice President of Leadership, LEAP
4 - Ms. Linda Akutagawa, Director of External Relations, LEAP
2 - Mr. Watkins, Jeff, Executive Director of YMCA International Services.
Special Guests:
1 - Mr. Andy Quach: Pro-Temp Mayor, City of Westminster, California
2 - Mr. Lan Q. Nguyen, Vice President of Board of Education, City of
Garden Grove, California
3 - Mr. Van Thai Tran, Pro-Temp Mayor, City of Garden Grove, California
Dear fellow campers,
The Vietnamese Culture and Science Association is proud to announce its 7th Annual Len Duong Camp. This is a unique opportunity for campers to meet community activists of their peers from different regions with similar interests such as volunteerism, the desire to learn and sharpen leadership skills and deep commitment to community work.
Camp Len Duong’04 is located on a very scenic camp site offered by San Diego County School District: Camp Palomar located about 78 miles from city of San Diego, California. Campers will be able to enjoy workshops and forums focused on leadership skills development, in addition to many exciting games, which accentuate the importance of team building and team work as well as the uniqueness of Vietnamese cultural heritage and history.
There will be a "powwow" bonfire on Saturday night for campers to share their thoughts on community involvement. On Sunday night, the always exciting and thought provoking team competitions will take place. This year is the first year camp Len Duong is delivered in the west coast of US to outreach more youths in the West coast area, the program will be changed and improved a great deal and promised to be very challenging and intersting.
So plan to be there! Every day is packed with meaningful and enjoyable activities. Come and join Len Duong Camp’04 Don’t miss out this camp because it will definitely be a memorable experience that you will want to come back to, year after year.
LEN DUONG’04 LOGO DESIGN CONTEST
On the 7th anniversary
VCSA would like to announce the contest for the Design of the Logo of Youth Leadership Development Camp Len Duong’04 to be held from May 28-31, 2004 at Camp Palomar, Palomar Mountain, California.
Who can participate? Everyone who has an artistic skill in designing the logo is encouraged to participate.
When is the deadline: Submit the electronic copy with a hard copy to be sent to
Len Duong’04 Logo Contest
c/o VCSA
11554 Bellaire Blvd
Houston, TX 77072
NO LATER THAN April 26, 2004.
What is the prize? The winner will be awarded $100.00 plus free registration for Len Duong’04 camp (in the value of $100.00) and honorary mentioned in the Opening Ceremony of the Camp (if the winner chooses to attend the camp). The winning logo will be used as the official logo for Len Duong’04 camp.
All Len Duong returnees are encouraged to participate. The logo design will be selected based on the following criteria:
1. Artistic value of the design.
2. Reflection of the “Youth, Teamwork, Enthusiasm, Volunteering” Spirit of the camp for the last 6 years (a torch figure or shape is preferred).
3. Simplicity so that it can be printed on T-shirt and promotional items without any technical difficulties.
!!!!!!PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR LOGO DESIGN BEFORE APRIL 26, 2004!!!!!!
Note: Please send the soft copy in picture format such as Corel Draw (.cdr) or Illustrator (.ai) or Window Metafile (.wmf) PhotoShop (.psd or .jpeg) to camplenduong04@yahoo.com
Winning logo from previous years:
LEN DUONG’04 ESSAY CONTEST
VCSA is pleased to announce the Len Duong’04 Essay Contest with the following details:
The purpose of the contest is to encourage young community activists from across the country to share their ideals in volunteerism and to encourage them to attend Len Duong camp.
Who can participate? Everyone who is currently active in a community group and wants to attend Len Duong’04 Youth Leadership Camp is eligible to participate in the contest.
How? Write an essay of 500-1000 words in English or Vietnamese describing the reason why you want to get involved with volunteer activities and/or community services? What inspired you to get involved in the community and what is your aspiration. You might also want to mention the reason why you want to go to Len Duong camp. You might want to share your experiences from the past Len Duong camps and what impact have it given to you (for anyone who has gone to Len Duong camp before).
When? The deadline to submit the essay electronically will be April 26, 2004.
What is the prize? There will be three Prizes for the three best essays. Winners will receive FREE registration fee to Camp Len Duong’04 and a Plaque as the First Prize, Second Prize and Third Prize Winner of Len Duong essay contest. The winners will be presented the Prize at Len Duong’04 camp.
Please send in your essay and include your full name (last name, first name), your email and your home address. You can also send an electronic copy of the essay to camplenduong04@yahoo.com or send the hard copy to the following address:
Camp Len Duong’04 essay contest
c/o VCSA
11554 Bellaire Blvd
Houston, TX 77072
DIRECTION TO CAMP SITE
Direction from San Diego:
1. Take I-8 East - go about 38 miles
2. Take Japatul Valley Rd. Exit - go 0.3 miles (you will see the sign: Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. There is a
stop sign)
3. Turn Left onto Japatul Valley Road - go 1.3 miles
4. Japatul Valley Rd. become CA-79 - go 12 miles
5. Follow the sign lead to camp Cuyamca
Direction from Orange County:
1. Take I-405 SOUTH -
2. Merge to I-5 SOUTH - go 33.4 mi
3. Take the CA-78 EAST exit - go 51.5 mi
4. Continue on CA-78 EAST/CA-79 - go 6.9 mi
5. Continue on CA-78 EAST/CA-78/CA-79 - go 0.1 mi
6. Turn on CA-79 - go 9.5 mi
7. Arrive at 12561 HIGHWAY 79, DESCANSO
You can also check with Mapquest and Yahoo! Map for direction.
12561 Highway 79
Descano, CA 91916
Click here to tour around San Diego
If you get lost, please call the Camp office, 24 hours:
(858)837 1131
NIGHT EMERGENCY
(760) 765 3000
OR
Camp Organizing Committee Emergency
(858) 837 1131
To avoid the Memorial Day traffic jams, we highly recommend that you depart for camp at the earliest possible.
Airport pick up schedule
Out of town campers who plan to come to Len Duong camp can book your flight to San Diego International Airport. The Transportation team will pick up campers according to the following schedule:
Friday May 28th:
1:00pm
- 2:00pm: Bus/Car will leave the airport at 2:00pm SHARP!!!
7:00pm - 8:00pm: Bus/Car will leave the airport at 8:00pm SHARP!!!
Transportation team will pick up everyone at Terminal 2, baggage claim area - San Diego International Airport. Please wait for us outside once you retrieve you luggage. You will see transportation team member wearing Len Duong 2004 T-shirt
If you arrive at terminal 1, please take the Red Bus at the baggage claim area (free of charge) from terminal 1 to terminal 2. Buses run at intervals not to exceed 10 minutes.
FYI:
* Airlines arrive at Terminal 2: Continental, Delta, Northwest
* Airlines arrive at Terminal 1: Southwest, United Airline
For special arrangement, please contact the transportation team at transportation@vhkhvn.org.
May
15, 2004Fill 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
11554 Bellaire Blvd
Houston, TX 77072
Not available
| Benefactors |
 |
| Leadership for Asian Pacifics (LEAP) |
| Patrons |
| JP Morgan Chase |
| Sponsors |
| CenterPoint
Energy Duke Energy Corporation  |
