American University of Health Sciences (AUHS) is pleased to announce that it will be holding its very first BSN Open House for Vietnamese speakers on Saturday, May 6th, 2017 from 9 am- 12 pm. There will be the regular Open House for English-speakers on May 13, 2017 but AUHS seeks to serve and better educate prospective students on its School of Nursing (SON) program by presenting this information in their primary language, which is Vietnamese.

The Vietnamese Open House project was introduced by Hai Luong, AUHS Admissions Counselor.

“We want to reach out to the Vietnamese community to get prospective students to contact us, get to know us and hopefully sign up with our program,” said Luong, “The reason why we made an Open House for Vietnamese speakers is because a lot of the prospective student’s parents only speak Vietnamese. A lot of these parents help make the final decision.”

Luong was inspired to create an Vietnamese Open House after discovering from AUHS Founder Dr. Kim Dang Johnson (Hon.) and AUHS Co-founder Pastor Gregory Johnson that the Vietnamese community helped the university grow and become what it is today.

“When Pastor Johnson and Ms. Kim started this university, they didn’t have many students calling in to inquire about their programs. They started out with having Vietnamese students joining the university,” Luong said, “What I got from Pastor Johnson and Dr. Dang is that because we started with the Vietnamese students, in a way we feel gratitude for the community. We want to go back into our roots and give back to the community for their support.”

The list of presenters at this upcoming AUHS Vietnamese Open House has not yet been finalized but Luong will be at the event to serve as a translator for the attendees. The “keynote speaker,” however, will be Pastor Johnson, said Luong.

This could be the first of many Open Houses where AUHS will provide translators for prospects whose primary language is Spanish, Tagalog, Khmer, and more. Luong also wants to make the same efforts to reach out to the Cambodian community and wishes to collaborate with Sara Pol Lim, the AUHS Chair of Board of Trustees, in the near future.

The majority of  the Vietnamese population practices Buddhism or “ancestor worship” and only about 1-2 percent practice Christianity, according to Luong. However, Luong believes that even though most of Vietnamese people are not Christians, many of them consider Christianity and Christian establishments as trustworthy.

“I had a prospective student who was Vietnamese and not Christian that came here a few months ago, asking about our BSN program. When I told him that we were a Christian University, he said that he had a good feeling about it,” Luong said, “I hope the rest of the Vietnamese community reacts the same way.”

Although it is a Christian institution, AUHS accepts students from all walks of life.

“We let people know that we’re a Christian university, we love God, we love people, we’re here to support them but we don’t discriminate against any religious or ethnic backgrounds,” said Luong, “We welcome everybody. We accept our students and love them just as they are.”

As a Christian university, AUHS not only provides the best medical training but it also provides the best emotional and spiritual support possible, which is important for many students.

“When I was a college student, things happened in my life. A loss of a friend or family member, sickness, and so on could cause crisis,” said  Luong, “But having God and having Godly people around you to pray for you, to give you advice, to comfort you, and encourage you makes huge differences.”

AUHS is a private, for-profit, minority owned, minority serving, Christian-based university whose mission is to educate and equip students with life careers and to produce quality health care professionals for the community, the nation and the world. It is a university where appreciation of life and one’s spiritual reason for existence can be nurtured.
AUHS offers a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), a Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutical Sciences (BSPS) and a Master of Science in Clinical Research (MSCR). To request more information, email admissions@auhs.edu or call (562) 988-2278. For the latest news, pictures and videos of American University of Health Sciences’ events, like us on Facebook @auhs.edu and follow us on Twitter @AUHS_Campus and Instagram @auhsedu.