Newsletter 12: Spring Awakening
1 March, 2024
TL;DR
Sam’s springtime musings
Please help spread the word about the UWC Short Course: Doing Good
WHY sessions with Simon Sinek
Please consider making a pledge to our project
Please help us spread the word!
Dear Friends,
Happy March!
I cannot believe that this is the twelfth newsletter that I am sending out on behalf of the UWC-Inspired Vietnam Campus Project. For all the subscribers, thank you for being a staunch supporter through the months. Whether you sent us an encouraging email, introduced us to potential supporters that we should speak with, met with us on Zoom or in-person to hear more about the project, or supported us financially or with in-kind donations, we are, because of you all. And I truly mean that from the bottom of my heart.
I am immensely proud of the momentum that we have been able to generate in these twelve months. But I must admit, the project has seen its fair share of bumps and setbacks. The twelve snapshots that you see in the newsletter in no way capture the countless hours spent behind the scenes, writing and rewriting proposals, daily morning huddles, long discussions on financial sustainability, and how to best engage donors and partners to care about this monumental project as much as we do.
But with any and every obstacle we encounter, we are committed to taking the little steps that are prerequisite for big steps to happen, and I am grateful every day to be working on this project with my team.
Plus, it’s the spring! The Earth is waking up. I feel like we have tilled the soil, thought about the things we want to plant, watered the soil, exposed it to the sun, and waiting for the seed to grow. We look forward to putting our yet another 12 more newsletters to come in the next months, and I invite you to witness how we grow, bloom, and bear fruit along the way. And we promise to share all of our harvest with you all!
Thank you for your constant support, friends. Thank you for keeping our project in your thoughts as well. I hope this is also the year where if you haven’t thought about how you could personally help out the project—either with your time, treasure, or talent, I invite you to think about it and have a conversation with me about it!
Summer 2024 UWC Short Course in Vietnam: Doing Good
Please find our brochure for the Summer Short Course below. If you know any students between 15-17 who are interested in participating in the program, please forward it to them / their parents!
We are also looking for individual or corporate partners to give out named scholarships for students to attend our summer short course. Because this is a short course that is endorsed by UWC International’s Short Course Development Initiative, we will be granting need-based scholarships to a portion of our participants.
We are still finalizing the final program tuition with Outward Bound Vietnam, but expect the final decision to happen in the next couple of weeks. If you are interested in providing scholarships to deserving students, please let me know directly!
Please find the PDF version of the brochure below here.
Why UWC in Vietnam?
One of the key exercises that the UWC-Inspired Vietnam Campus Project’s core team has been engaging in these days during our executive planning meeting is “why must this envisioned new UWC campus exist in Vietnam, and what problem does it help solve within the country or around the greater Southeast Asian region?” As the initiator of the project, I of course have my own answers, but it was been such a refreshing exercise to incorporate the entire team’s opinions as we adjust, reassess, and recalibrate.
It also doesn’t hurt to have Simon Sinek, author of Start With Why as our thought partner! We jumped on a call with Simon earlier this month, and look forward to continue to speak with again in the near future as we work through this seminal question of the reasoning behind the existence of our campus.
Please consider giving to the UWC-Inspired Vietnam Campus Project!
Would you like to make a pledge to our project? Our tax-exempt status in the United States is pending, but we’d like to ask for pledges for folks who are interested in giving to the 501(c)3 entity once we receive the tax-exemption approval in the near future.
We have two tiers of initial pioneering class of donors—the Founders as well as the Community Builders—that is tied to a minimum contribution amount, but we are happy to receive pledges at any amount. If you’re interested, please reach out to me directly at sam.jeong@uwc.vn and I will share more information with you.
I will finally close off with my highlight from this month. This past weekend, I had the privilege of volunteering for the National Committee of UWC Vietnam, helping select and place students to go abroad to one of the 18 UWCs. This is my fourth year participating in selections in Vietnam, but it was an especially meaningful year because this is the first selections since the UWC-Inspired Vietnam Campus Project launched.
Watching these 40 students share life, stories, challenges, and reflections over four days, thinking about how they would impact and contribute to a UWC campus community, imagining how they would be at the campus in Vietnam, it was an inspiring four days and a reminder of why this work is happening in the first place. May their paths be like spring gardens—rich, flourishing, and full of life.
My most heartfelt congratulations to all the Finalists!
Please help us spread the word
Please forward on our newsletter to three people in your life who you know will be interested in what we have been working on.
Looking for more ways to support us? Consider making a donation, volunteering your skills, or hosting a fundraising event. Thank you for your time, treasure, and talent!
Yours,
UWC-Inspired Vietnam Campus Project