Khia Yang is the President of HOPE on our campus, 1 of 8 multicultural organizations housed in the Office of Multicultural Student Services. In Khia’s free time, she likes to watch Netflix and chill … alone. I asked Khia what her passions were and she said herself; If you aren’t passionate about yourself and an advocate for yourself, you can’t expect others to be.
Major: Psychology
Minor: Double minor in Biology & Chemistry
Interested in: Looking at neurological processes in the frontal lobe, as well as looking at decision making, cultural differences, and how it relates to therapy.
Hometown: La Crosse, WI
PGPs (Personal Gender Pronouns): She/Her/Hers
J: What is HOPE?
K: “HOPE stands for Hmong Organization Promoting Education. It is meant to be a place where we, as a collective Hmong group, can gather to create a safe place for Hmong students to connect. It is centered around Hmong education which can mean through academic institutions or cultural preservation. Side note: Our organization is very inclusive, so anyone can come to our meetings!”
J: What is the message that you want to spread through HOPE?
K: “I want to emphasize self empowerment and want to work towards uniting as marginalized groups. Being President of HOPE, I can only work with the Hmong students but I wish to connect with other groups working towards the same goal. Through HOPE, I hope that we can give people hope as well. This may sound optimistic or far reached, but we need to break the system, and by that I mean the system of oppression. Also, this year we are more focused on visiting other schools that have Hmong organizations and hope to support them in addition to self support.”
J: What events does HOPE have this year?
K: “So, January 30th is our Bi-Annual Conference that we attend. The theme is Lighting The Torch, empowering present and future leaders through innovations as well as cultural preservation. I think of it as, not passing on the torch, but helping igniting other torches to create a bigger flame. Then, Saturday April 23rd, we have our Culture Night. It is all about Hmong culture and can be shown in many different ways. Sometimes it’s a play, sometimes it’s a musical; it can be about Hmong history and legends. It is what we make it really.”
J: What do you love most about being President of HOPE?
K: “I get to do things my way. I get to lead a strong, young, passionate, group of individuals while incorporating ideas. I really enjoy being on the frontline, but I also enjoy being behind the scenes. This may sound controlling, but I just believe that there are certain things that people need to know or else they would be walking around headless, so I think it’s cool that I can help speak to people about those things.”
J: What are some interesting facts about you?
K: “I have 1,061 Facebook friends but I only talk to 20 of them. Also, people may think of me as kind of a social person, but I kind of really don’t like people. But, I’m always around people, so…”
J: What movie makes you cry every time?
K: “I don’t cry. I cry, just not while watching movies.”
J: What’s your favorite color?
K: “Purple.”
HOPE meets every Monday in Centennial 3301 at 7pm. Feel free to join them!