Alex Gobert: “I’m running for Secretary because I believe that my skills and aptitudes are most closely aligned with the Secretary’s duties and responsibilities.

The individuals that have served on UVSA South’s Executive Board have been tremendous role models that I look up to, and I hope to one day become the role models that I’ve always looked up to. I believe that I can contribute to UVSA South and its constituents given my engineering background and my ability to create creative, optimized solutions to problems.”

Aysia Nguyen: “Throughout my time with UVSA South, I have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to be an involved member in this community in various aspects of UVSA South including Cabinet Board, Summit, and Camp Legacy.

Through these experiences, I have grown as a leader and person in different ways. I have grown to love this organization more and more through all the connections and memories I’ve made and I want to give back to the organization that has given so much to me. South has so much potential to grow and I want to be able to lead the change and progress of our region!”

Vanessa Dinh: “In my many years of being a constituent of UVSA South, I have witnessed the fruits that the region can offer to the partner schools and am elated to implement fresh ideas to create regional resources for the officers at each schools.

Inspired by many previous chair holders, I wish to have a direct impact, working with the ICC representatives, to be the bridge for the partner schools, pulling even the farthest schools together. Each school has its own strengths and struggles, therefore, they each have different needs when it comes to utilizing the resources that South has. Running for a position like Vice President Internal, I would like to be the person that the partner schools may confide in when they need an Executive Board liaison or simply cheer them on from all aspects. In short, I want to make a difference in this community and would like to support the VSA peers on their leadership journey.”

Alex Gobert: “My main goal is encouraging and educating staff about computer literacy.

Encouraging general computer literacy is important in all aspects of a person’s life, and I strongly believe that knowing how to get around UVSA South’s package of technologies (Workplace, GSuite) in an efficient manner will build skills crucial to a person’s success in the workforce. Knowing how to manipulate calendar events, being comfortable with formulas and conditional formatting in spreadsheets, and adhering to an organization’s directory structure are all well-transferable skills to any industry, and they’re all skills that one develops over time working within UVSA South. I want to give constituents a head-start and provide a guided experience with learning these tools during the onboarding process so that our constituents are better equipped to function as adults in an ever-digitizing world.”

Aysia Nguyen: “As President, I hope to provide guidance and build interpersonal relationships with our members in a meaningful way.

I feel that many members see the Executive Board as an untouchable entity when the intentions of E-Board are the exact opposite: Many of us come into these roles with hopes that our members will utilize us as sources of information and seek advice from us but oftentimes we are met with little to no interaction. I hope that in the next term, my board and I can break this stigma and be more front-facing with our members in a couple of ways:

1. I want to develop and lead workshops for our Partner School officer boards to help with officer development in our region. These workshops would act as guides to help officers develop their leadership skills and educate them on a variety of topics relevant in the VSA space as well as bring valuable discussions/insight that would benefit officer boards and their respective schools. Topics would range from leadership/organizational development to culture, identity, and other contemporary issues, such as mental health & community safety.

2. I want to sustain our relationships by utilizing one-on-one meetings/check-ins with Partner Schools and Cabinet Board members to bridge the gap between E-Board and our members. This gives the opportunity for schools & Cabinet Board/Staff to have a judgement-free and safe environment to express their questions, concerns, and expectations of E-Board.

All members of UVSA South are volunteering their time our strengthen our community across South, so I want to make sure that everyone within South has the resources and tools necessary to achieve their goals. By allowing myself and the rest of my E-Board members to become more available to the region, we are giving access to our members to engage with us so that we can all prepare for the next generation of leaders and the future of VSA.”

Vanessa Dinh: “The mission of UVSA South is to bring together an engaged community within different VSAs and support its constituents in various capacities.

The current board has made great strides to educate the staff affiliated with the organization with code of conduct training, solidify the chain of communication, brought resources for the partner schools to utilize and more. I want to improve on what is already in place but also work on projects to help officers in transfers of knowledge in leadership. I wish to bring on projects that help boost morale, ignite passion, and learn soft leadership skills for our constituents.”

Alex Gobert: I want to be the reason that someone applies for E-Board for 2025-2027.

Being an inspiration is such a rewarding feeling to me, and I already feel this when I look at my committee. Each and every one of my committee members applied for my committee because I was an inspiration to them and because they looked up to me. Even though I’m not the oldest or the wisest director, they all chose to apply for LOG because they saw something in me— something that I might not even see in myself. That’s an incredibly motivating feeling and it’s part of what drives me to continue within the VSA space. I want at least one person to look at the things I’ve done in my term and become inspired enough to take the same leap of faith that I’m taking now: the leap into UVSA South’s E-Board applications.

Aysia Nguyen: One personal goal I want to achieve if elected as President of UVSA South is to create an environment within our region and our respective communities that promotes and sustains positivity and safety for all our members.

I want to be able to help our staff and members in being able to achieve whatever goals they set and to foster an environment where our staff and members not only feel heard, but seen and understood and create a space where our community can always fall back on and help us toward sustaining leaders within this space.

Vanessa Dinh: A personal goal that I want to achieve is sketching the outline for each school to help them transfer knowledge of leadership from one generation to the next.

I also hope to be on an Executive board that helps expand our region to the schools in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas that have yet to experience the benefits of our regional resources. I also want to guide leaders to not only learn the technical skills but also the soft skills that build an individual from being a good leader to a great leader. The cherry on top is getting to meet many wonderful people I’m elated to be friends with.

Alex Gobert: As non-profit volunteer organizations, finances are a major point of concern for all VSAs, big and small. UVSA South can support partner schools by promoting and otherwise encouraging participation in local VSA events. Externals are a large source of income for local VSAs and by leveraging UVSA South’s network of partner schools, we can bolster attendance at local events.

Aysia Nguyen: As a non-profit organization, UVSA South is only able to raise operational funds through fundraisers (i.e. merch sales) and sponsorships. Because of this, we as an organization are not able to financially support the region in conventional ways. However, we always try to find ways to support financially whether that be through allowing our Partner Schools to utilize our 501(c)(3) for their fundraising/sponsorshiping/donation efforts for their schools, providing early access for Partner Schools to attend UVSA South events at lower prices, and providing scholarships for South & UNAVSA events. While these efforts have sustained our region thus far, I also understand how difficult finances can be. I would love to work alongside our future Treasurer to set a yearly allocation dedicated to help our partner schools and donate to projects led by the Partner Schools and provide more opportunity for members to attend and participate in our events.

Vanessa Dinh: As an organization filled with college students, the financial struggle is an uncommon one amongst the constituents. UVSA South currently offers many scholarship opportunities that would provide free admission to our regional events to those who apply themselves. Our region can push to raise sponsorship for events and consistently give out more of similar scholarships. To increase your own treasury, your VSA should heavily focus on fundraise on campus and take advantage of profit shares. Additionally, participating in South does not have to cost money, you can get involved outside of events planning if you’d like to be on Cabinet board.

Alex Gobert: Attendance at UVSA South events starts with the ICC. The local representative of each school has a profound impact on the attendance of their members at UVSA South events. Ultimately, UVSA South cannot force anybody to attend our events, but local representatives are in a unique position to connect with members on a personal level. Connecting with and bolstering our ICC network will propagate to connecting with our constituents.

Aysia Nguyen: I would love to have staff for UVSA South events to meet with Partner Schools to help promote our events, especially if they are from a particular school because I believe there is comfort in knowing someone you know will be at the same event as you. I would also want to meet with the schools one-on-one to see what South can do in order to gauge interest from their school and try to provide extra encouragement for those schools to attend. One-on-ones was a tool I utilized with the Partner Schools during my term as IVP and want to continue utilizing in order to meet our schools wherever they are at. Additionally, I want to make more of an effort to encourage our non-partner schools who are new to region to also join us in these events so that they can have a shared South experience with everyone in our region!

Vanessa Dinh: By promoting unity between the officers of all constituent schools, the officers will have the opportunity to learn about the community that South provides including space to share success stories and improvements. The communication will then trickle down from officers to their members. Some strategies you can take is to offer incentives to your members to motivate them to participate in South, talk about South offers, or even invite the Executive board to do a presentation about our region. You can reach out to your general body members to survey why they may not be attending the events and use this feedback to cater to their interests. It may take time and effort to build relationships with other partner schools be patient and persistent.

(Internal Vice President Candidates Only)

Vanessa Dinh: VSAs across various campuses may have different student organization cultures. My advice is to confide and collaborate with the other cultural organizations on campus to build relationships with them. Additionally, your officer board can outline goals and steps that your VSA can take to promote the diversity and inclusion that the campus cannot provide for the student body. If the on-campus resources fall short, you may rely on our region for support through communication with the ICCs. ICC representatives advocates for your schools, give progress updates and talk about improvements during their regularly scheduled meetings. Take advantage of the relationships between you and the other partner schools by showing your presence to their events, create personal relationships and invite them to your VSA’s events. Our Cabinet Board can also use marketing as a tool to promote your upcoming events.

(For President Candidates Only)

Aysia Nguyen: Part of my platform includes developing and leading workshops for our Partner Schools to educate them on a variety of topics relevant in the VSA space as well as bring valuable discussions/insight that would benefit their respective schools. Topics would cover things such as bias, as well as leadership/organizational development, culture, identity, and other contemporary issues, such as mental health & community safety. I want to partner with our intercontinential partner, UNAVSA, to help develop these workshops and reach out to Partner Schools to gauge what topics are important to them to discuss. The VSA and UVSA South space is one that tries their best to promote diversity and inclusion and I will always try my best to provide the necessary resources for our region to share this value collectively.