The Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) is preparing to attend MAYS, the Mid Autumn Youth Seminar, on November 1st at Yerba Buena High School. The event will bring the VSA club from MHS and other schools together and will allow each school to compete in many activities.
At MAYS, different schools compete in various events. Each competing school will have teams, MHS VSA President Elizabeth Nguyen said.
“It includes games, speeches, jeopardy, singing, dancing, and skits,” Nguyen said. “It’s other schools that each have a team for each category and we compete against each other.”
Different events require different methods to prepare for. Jeopardy can be prepared for by studying the questions given to schools who register for MAYS early. Students also participate in a cultural dance, Nguyen said.
“For the cultural part we make a dance,” Nguyen said. “We usually have practices two days a week after school for an hour or two.”
However, MAYS isn’t just for competing. MAYS is also a very positive experience, said MHS VSA Vice President Quy Mai Le.
“Its fun and interesting,” Le said. “We get to meet other people from other VSA’s.”
MAYS will also include cultural bonding through its events. The event serves the purpose of expressing Vietnamese culture, Nguyen said.
“We’re spreading awareness of the Vietnamese culture,” Nguyen said. “We’re bonding through our interest in our culture.”
However, those who wish to compete at MAYS are out of luck. Sign ups have been closed due to the amount of time needed to prepare, Le said.
“We closed our sign ups already because we take time to prepare and have to get the teams ready,” Le said. “Then we have to register so we have to do it beforehand because there’s a limited space.”
Around thirty people from VSA will attend MAYS to compete. Different events require a different range of participants, Nguyen said.
“[There are] seven people for games, five people for jeopardy, there’s twenty something dancers,” Nguyen said. “30 something participate in it, but people can still come to support.”
