May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month!

2007 Girl Scouts Young Woman of Distinction - Minna

Girl Scouts of the USA is thrilled to introduce you to an amazing socially conscious individual who has changed the world for the better—and what makes this person even more special is the fact that she is a teenager.

Minna (16) of the Hmong Women Circle Girl Scout group at the River Valleys Council is already thinking about the long-term effect lack of exposure to their cultural roots, has on children. With this in mind, Minna created "Reuniting China with Her Children," a program that helps to familiarize local adopted kids born in China with the Chinese language and culture. For over five months, Minna held classes for different age levels at the community church. "Since the project ended, I have become a true leader in the community," says the Girl Scout Gold Award recipient.

Minna is passionate about:
Cultural education for adopted children. "The inspiration for my project lied wholly in the adopted Chinese children in and outside of my community, particularly those I taught. I had noticed how many of the kids adopted from China whom I met throughout the years never really knew about their heritage," said Minna.

She impacted the community in the following ways:
The adopted children learned about their own culture, a culture that they were not in contact with and otherwise had no means of getting in touch with. They gained interest in it and in the language. They learned their Chinese names, daily-use phrases, and how to count in Chinese. Most importantly, as the parents and end-of-class surveys indicated, these girls gained an interest in their rich heritage that they hopefully could continue to carry with them.

She wants congress to:
Help publicize programs such as hers and get more schools to introduce Chinese language courses, especially since China is becoming more and more of a world entity. Also, she wants them to encourage schools and institutions to embrace internationalism in general through diversity programs and fun activities.

Minna has the following to say about leadership:
"To me, leadership means being able to change the world, even if it's just on the local level. It's a combination of traits that help make an idea or image turn into a reality. A leader can guide people to help execute that vision. Leadership includes the ability to listen to and respect others, as well as the needs of the community. It's being able to take the initiative and have the courage to be the one to take charge of a cause. It means fighting through the rough times that might flag your spirits, being responsible, resourceful, and always compassionate."

Girl Scouts serve the Hmong Community
Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys proudly serve Minneapolis/St. Paul's female adolescents, in grades 7-12 via the Hmong Women's Circle (HWC) program, a character-building program that uses an inside-out model to address their needs, concerns and talents. This spring, 18 Hmong Girl Scouts from the Twin Cities attended the 13th Annual Hmong National Conference in Denver, Colo., the only national Hmong conference focusing on advancing the Hmong community across the country. The teens educated thousands of attendees about the River Valleys' HWC program as booth presenters.

Last spring, HWC members traveled to Detroit for the Hmong National Conference where they presented on youth issues, specifically the generation gap in the Hmong culture. Then, over the summer, they journeyed to French Guiana (Guy-anna) and through service projects shared about the dangers of smoking and discussed the cultural gaps between Hmong-American and Hmong-French people.