National Tenth Annual Youth Leadership Development Camp - Len Duong 2007
Collin County Adventure Camp - Anna, Texas

*Len Duong literally means in Vietnamese "Embark on a new journey".

Len Duong Camp, the Tenth National Youth Leadership Development Camp, organized by the Vietnamese Culture and Science Association (VCSA), took place at Collin County Adventure Camp site, Anna, Texas. from May 25 to May 28, 2007. This year marked the 10^th anniversary of camp Len Duong program and hence the theme was around "Leadership - Impact - Success" and its Vietnamese theme is "Journey back to one's roots".

Len Duong 2007 had more than 250 campers coming from 18 states in the United States and Canada. The camp organizing committee comprises of more than 50 members also came from all parts of United States and Canada. The theme of this year camp is "Leadership - Impact - Success" to celebrate its 10^th anniversary.

Len Duong 2007 Camp program

Friday, May 25, 2007:
Campers were transported to the campsite for registration throughout the day. From 7 pm to midnight, there was a diner, initial workshop of "Personality Type: Myer Brigg Test and personal development" led by Dr. Quan Cao and Ms. Diane Bifano. Each camper also had to solve a riddle and found his/her camp team mates in 12 teams bearing the names of heroes and/or heroines of Vietnam, which helped them to learn more about the history of Vietnam.

Saturday, May 26, 2007:
After morning exercise and breakfast, all campers attended the Opening Ceremony and listened to the Keynote speech by the Honorable Janet Nguyen, Supervisor of District #1 of Orange County (she was elected to this position in February 2007, prior to this position, she served as the council-member of city of Garden Grove. Ms. Janet delivered an excellent keynote speech that emphasized the importance of active civic participation and involving in mainstream politics.

All teams then had the chance to know each other and had some team activities afterward. The twelve counsellors were assigned to 12 teams to work with the team throughout the weekend as advisors and supporters.

After lunch, campers chose to attend one of four 2 hour concurrent leadership workshops:

"Career Aspirations" by four panelists: Mr. Cecil Fong and Mr. Thai Le (from Shell Oil Company), Mr. Kien Nguyen (author of the best-seller "The Unwanted"), and Dr. Steve Thang Nguyen; "Discover your personal brand identity" by Linda Akutagawa (from LEAP); "Understanding your cultural values" by J.D. Hokoyama (from LEAP); and "The Myer Briggs: Personality Test and Personal Development by Dr. Quan Cao and Ms. Dinae Bifano.

In the afternoon, all campers participated in the team sport competition with a special game out in the lake. After dinner was the time for campers from different teams get to know each other through the inter-team activities ran by Christine Nguyen.

After dinner, everyone gathered at the Dining Hall to attend the celebration of 10^th year anniversary of the camp Len Duong program. The celebration acknowledged the contribution of the camp masters in the past 10 years and also recognized the following past Len Duong campers who became local outstanding community leaders and organization: Thanh Luu (Houston, Texas), Tuong Vu Nguyen (Austin, Texas), Hong Ly La (Washington DC metropolitan), An Huynh (California), Dinh Ngo (Oklahoma city, Oklahoma), Truong Tran (Dallas, Texas), Christine Nguyen (Toronto, Canada), Kevin Le (Toronto, Canada), and W.A.V.E. (Women Alliance for Vietnam's Education) organization.

Due to the rainy weather, the first bonfire was conducted in-door and all 12 teams had a great time with team competitions and team building games for nearly 1.5 hours. Everyone ended the day with great supper provided by local Vietnamese restaurant.

Sunday, May 27, 2007:
After morning exercise, religious services (Father Long Nguyen for Catholic campers and Ven. Thich Dao Quang for Buddhist campers) and breakfast, all campers commenced a day full of activities.

Ven. Thich Dao Quang had a great talk about "Buddhism and Leadership" at this session in the morning.

On Sunday all campers participated in a big journey from 9:00am - 5:00pm to learn about Vietnamese culture, history and geography, with cultural sessions, team project and big game.

After dinner, the Camp's bonfire of two hours comprised of a great sketch with history of Vietnam, a presentation of every two-team's sketch (either musical or theatrical with an emphasis on performing skills). After bonfire, all campers ate supper and participated in the "Talent show" - with dance, songs, Vietnamese opera, martial arts until 2 am the next morning. Artist and guitarist Dat Nguyen from California joined the bonfire with great music and he also had a special 30 minute performance for all campers at the talent show.

Monday, May 28, 2007:
The judging committee announced the 3 winning teams of Len Duong 2007.
Team Ngo Quyen won 1^st Prize.
Team Tran Binh Trong won the second place and Team Phan Boi Chau won the 3^rd place.
Each other team also won a special award for their special talents and services throughout the four days at camp.

A renovated and well-prepared camp program
Len Duong 2007 was in fact a very well-orchestrated program put together by several VCSA members across the nation. Camp masters June Molina Le Bao Nhung was assisted by the Program Management Team: Teresa To Trinh Trinh (Houston), Jodie Huynh (California) and Dinh Ngo (Oklahoma) have been working with more than 50 members of the team to work on the planning task in the previous six months with 11 sub-committees and 12 counsellors to make the camp a reality.

This year, each camper paid approximately $120 to pay for the camp fee, 11 meals provided by a great Food Catering team in the area, a T-shirt with camp logo, a program book and other learning material. Obviously, such a low payment for a packed three-days camp was a direct result of the sponsorship by corporations and foundations which have provided VCSA with tremendous financial support. We would like to acknowledge the following sponsors whose contributions have helped to make the camp a reality:

Underwriter
Shell Oil Company,

Benefactors
The Catholic University of America, Texas Instruments and El Paso Corporation

Patrons
Bank of America, CenterPoint Energy and Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics

Sponsors
Dallas County Community District, Danny Nguyen & ReMAX, Dr. Quan Cao, Texas City Bank, Mr. & Mrs. Lam Tran, Vietnamese American Scholarship Fund, Greatland Investment, Le Hoang Nguyen Winning Agency, Little Saigon Radio 1520AM, Saigon Houston Radio 900AM

Friends
Chevron Texaco, Connoco Philips, Dr. Rick Ngo, Dr. Steve Thang Nguyen, Viet Hoa International

Supporters
Daniel&Co, HongKong Mall in Dallas, Taipei supermarket, Nail Warehouse at Dallas, Bistro-B Restaurant, Mr. & Mrs. Xuan Le, Global Equity Lending, Dr. Robert Quang Le, Dr. Minh Ly Nguyen, Dr. Mai Tram Nguyen, Dr. Lam Quang Thang, Michael Dao CPA, NAVASA, Wingstop

and all supporting media organizations: TNT Radio, Tieng Noi Viet Nam Hai Ngoai Radio, Pho Nho Magazine, Ngay Nay Magazine, Radio VAB
- AM 1600, Radio Vietnam Dallas, SBTN Television Dallas, SBTN Television Houston, Viet Nam Hai Ngoai Television, Saigon Radio Orlando, Florida, Viet Nam Radio Dallas, Saigon Tex-News, Nguoi Viet Dallas weekly magazine, and Viet-Bao Online.

All out of town campers were also picked up and transported to the camp site by volunteers from VCSA Dallas chapter. Airlines tickets were purchased with special discount from American Airlines.

The majority of this year's campers were 18-25 year old first time campers; with a track record of community activities in either Vietnamese communities or Vietnamese student associations across the nation. This year there was also a big proportion of young professional whose age group is between 26 - 35 who compose of 30% of the campers. After the camp 31 campers signed up to come back and serve for future Len Duong camp organizing team. Our sincere appreciation to all volunteers, speakers, staff, sponsors and supporters who helped to make this camp a reality.

See you at camp Len Duong 2008!