Community, culture and connection: starting an international student society

In 2022, Stacy Doan arrived at Deakin’s Geelong Waterfront Campus to start her undergraduate degree in occupational therapy. She was excited to dive into her studies, make new friends and experience student life at Deakin.

Arriving from Vietnam, she was not sure what to expect. Back home, she belonged to a close-knit community with her extended family and school friends. In Australia, Stacy looked forward to expanding her community.

When she arrived, Stacy found many opportunities to meet new people. However, when she looked to connect with other Vietnamese international students, she found there was not a dedicated student community in Geelong.

‘I was really amazed by how other communities … were connected to each other,” she says, describing the Indian and other Asian student societies on campus. These well-established groups have been running for a while, hosting events and sharing their culture with the wider university population.

‘I was always jealous seeing how … my other friends … had the opportunity to build connections, make friends and build up their network with the communities that already [had] a base there.’

After spending a year finding her feet, studying and making friends, Stacy realised many Vietnamese students felt the same way. They were eager for an organised student community and the chance to share their culture.

‘Why should we wait any longer to create one?’ she remembers thinking to herself.

Stacy posted in a Facebook group for the Vietnamese community based in Geelong. She was overwhelmed by the response. She and 12 other students met in person to brainstorm. What could they do to bring together Vietnamese students in Geelong?

Over the next year this group of students hosted a range of events aimed at building community. This included creating a mentorship program that paired newly arrived Vietnamese students with those already studying, as well as hosting large festivals and smaller networking events, where students could meet and get to know each other.

As the Vietnamese student community in Geelong bonded, they developed connections with the other student societies on campus. The support was crucial as the Vietnamese student society was establishing its own pool of volunteers and event organisers, leaning on each other as they built a team of volunteers.

‘ We had to connect with all the [international student] organisations in order to build up our capacity,’ Stacy explains.

‘It is an opportunity for our students to have that kind of international exchange…and experience working very, very closely with student communities from different backgrounds.’

Stacy says the success of the group can be seen in one of their biggest events to date, the 2024 Lunar New Year  Festival held in February.

‘The idea originally was to celebrate the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. But along the way, I kind of shifted that idea into not only just celebrating Vietnamese culture, but at the same time celebrating Asian culture in general.’

‘We celebrated two things. We celebrated the Lunar New Year, but at the same time used this as an opportunity to kind of unite our Asian friends together, to come together to celebrate the beauty of their own cultural background and hopefully inspire [others] … to come together and to feel proud of where they’re from,’ Stacy says.

In 2024, the Geelong Vietnamese Student Society was officially made part of the Deakin University Student Association (DUSA). The Deakin Vietnamese International Students of Geelong (DVISG) now has an official committee, and regularly hosts student events in Geelong.

Find out more about DVISG and upcoming events on the DUSA website. You can also explore other Deakin international student societies based at Deakin’s Geelong, Burwood or Warrnambool campuses. No matter where you have travelled from, you will find a supportive and like-minded community waiting for you at Deakin – or the resources and support to create one, just like Stacy.