Diversity Week Spotlight: Rosalynn Hoang

Rosalynn

Name 
Rosalynn Hoang

Classification 
Staff

If you are an employee, in what area do you work?
Procurement

How long have you been at Central Piedmont?
11 years

What is your favorite part of Central Piedmont?
Central Piedmont provides so many opportunities that support growth (academically, personally, career-wise, etc.) and wants all of its students and employees to succeed.

What country are you originally from or your home country?
Vietnam

Please share anything you would like others to know about your native country or your experience living there.
Vietnam has beautiful landscapes. The people are warm, friendly, respectful, and the cuisine is superb.

How long have you been in the United States?
44 years

What is your favorite experience or memory since being in the United States?
Watching my kids perform in marching/concert bands and cheering on Clemson Tigers with my family.

How do you like to spend your free time? What are your hobbies? What is a fun fact about you?
I love to spend time with my family. My hobbies are gardening and learning a new language. Fun fact about me: When we got to the U.S., my family opened a very small restaurant in a small town in Illinois with the intention of being a quick service restaurant. It became so popular and grew into a fine dining establishment even hosting celebrities and CEO’s. In fact, the joint venture agreement between John Deere and Hitachi was signed there over some delicious Vietnamese egg rolls. 🙂

What else would you like others to know about you or about your life experiences?
I grew up surrounded by the war in Vietnam. I escaped communism hiding in a fishing boat in the middle of the night. I came to America empty handed and I appreciate its endless opportunities and its efforts to embrace diversity.

Diversity Week Spotlight: Phetsakone Allen

Phetsakone Allen

Name
Phetsakone Allen

Classification
Staff

If you are an employee, in what area do you work?
Academic Affairs: Business, Technology & Engineering

How long have you been at Central Piedmont?
14 years

What is your favorite part of Central Piedmont?
As an employee of Central Piedmont, my favorite part is the beautiful architectural Central Campus. Central Campus is architecturally beautiful and modern. I appreciate the one free class per semester. I work with some awesome colleagues. I know that if I ever need anything, I can call on them to help me out.

What country are you originally from or your home country? *
Laos

Please share anything you would like others to know about your native country or your experience living there.
Laos is called the “Land of a Million Elephants,” and is famous for its amazing scenery, ethnic villages, and unexplored lands. Southeast Asia’s most spectacular waterfalls, including Tad Fane and Dong Hua Sao is best known. 4) Laos’s mystery “Plain of Jars” was discovered in 1930 by a French archaeologist Madeleine Colan. It is about 500 square mile, diamond-shaped region in northern Laos. 5) Laos is about 8,619 miles from Charlotte, N.C.

According to “Secret War” in Laos By: http://legaciesofwar.org/about-laos/secret-war-laos/,  from 1964 to 1973, the U.S. dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on Laos during 580,000 bombing missions—equal to a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24-hours a day, for 9 years – making Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in history. When the Americans withdrew from Laos in 1973, hundreds of thousands of refugees fled the country, and many of them ultimately resettled in the United States. That is how I ended up here in North Carolina.

How long have you been in the United States? *
34 years

What is your favorite experience or memory since being in the United States? *
Favorite experience: My first experience with snow. We don’t have snow in Laos. I didn’t know what it was. I remembered waking up one morning seeing the white stuff outside the apartment. I got my brothers ready, and we walked to school like we do routinely. Of course, we tried to figure out what the white and wet stuff was. When we made it to school, all the buildings were locked, and we couldn’t get in. We frantically walk around and tried to open different doors. I cried. My brothers cried. We thought we were late for school and got locked out. As we walked back home disappointed in ourselves, we thought that now our parents were going to punish us for being late and not able to attend school. Later that night, when my parents arrived home, they told us they knew about the snow and that we didn’t have school because their co-workers had explain to them. We didn’t get punished.

How do you like to spend your free time? What are your hobbies? What is a fun fact about you?
My free time is spent watching my boys playing tennis, football, basketball, and baseball. I also enjoy kayak and camping. My hobbies are tennis, kayak, camping, dragon boat race and attending festivals with food and dancing.

Fun fact 1: Love to dance especially breakdancing. I was in a breakdancing crew call the “Unexpected Guest.” We performed at the UNCC arts festival. I had a paid gig to breakdance at Fat Tuesday

Fun fact 2: I’ve coordinated a team of 21 people to participate in the Dragon Boat Race Festival for the past six years. The Charlotte Dragon Boat Festival and Asian Festival will take place on Saturday, October 8, 2022 at Ramsey Creek Park on Lake Norman. So much fun! https://www.visitlakenorman.org/events/annual-events/asian-festival/

What else would you like others to know about you or about your life experiences?
I came to the U.S. with one outfit on, didn’t speak English at all, and a refugee status. I had three goals in mind then. First goal: I was determined to learn to speak, read, and write English. Second goal: to be become an American citizen. I applied for Naturalization, I studied hard, took the test, and passed; I am officially an American citizen. Third goal: to complete a degree. I work hard, study hard, I have earned four associate degrees at Central Piedmont, and a Bachelor of Science degree from Gardner-Webb University while working full-time. I didn’t do all this by myself, I am blessed with two precious boys and a loving and supportive husband. I am grateful for the second chance at life, freedom to choose, get educated, and achieved my goals. Thank you for this opportunity to share my story.

Diversity Week Spotlight: Camelia Taheri

Central Piedmont is excited to recognize and celebrate our international students, faculty, and staff who represent more than 152 countries. Read on to learn more about Camelia Taheri, a dedicated faculty member at Central Piedmont.

In what area of the college do you work?
International Business

How long have you been at Central Piedmont? 
5 years

What is your favorite part of Central Piedmont? 
I love the camaraderie and joyful environment we all work at Central Piedmont (especially at Central campus), as well as I love the connection and working hand-on-hand with our students in the classroom (virtual & traditional)

What country are you originally from or your home country? 
Venezuela

Please share anything you would like others to know about your native country or your experience living there.
Venezuela has the happiest people I have known – with a combination of music, our pretty Caribbean beaches, the Andean mountains, the Amazonian forest, the sand dunes of Coro, and our amazing rivers throughout the country. Despite the last 20 years of political and economic struggles, when you meet a Venezuelan, you can feel the energy and happiness inside and outside the country. You can now find us everywhere around the world and you will always see us working hard for our families, friends and community.

How long have you been in the United States? 
15 years

What is your favorite experience or memory since being in the United States? *
I love how here in Charlotte many people are so curious about my accent. With my name, the majority cannot assume I am come from Latin America, and when I say that ‘I am from Venezuela’, people hear that ‘I am from Minnesota’. If you ask any Venezuelan, they have all encounter the same curious misunderstanding.

How do you like to spend your free time? What are your hobbies? What is a fun fact about you? 
I spend most of my time with my family. We surely enjoy the beach (as I grew up very close to the beach) and try to go every time we have a break. I love running and even more running on the beach.

Virtual Study Abroad – Take A Trip from Wherever You Are

Travel these days can be complicated, but we won’t let that stop us. Until we are able to travel abroad, check our this cool new virtual experience. Visit up to 9 countries with over 60 hours of footage. Take a walking tour of Venice, discover ancient Rome, tour the Alps, visit the Costa Rican rainforest or see the bustling streets of India. Students can access this platform at any time by signing up with your Central Piedmont email.

Register today and have fun on your travels!

Study Abroad in South Africa – Virtually!

Join Central Piedmont, Davidson County Community College, and Edu Africa for transformative learning through this virtual study abroad to South Africa. Interact and learn about the history, culture, and racial identity issues of South Africa.

Each month during the spring semester we will co-host an event related to South Africa. Topics will include an introduction to the country, Born A Crime book discussion, speaker session with Mandela’s prison mate and prison guard and a student to student conversation event. All events are free! Learn more about registration and program details today.

International Education Prevalent at NC Community Colleges

NC State’s Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research recently released its International Education at North Carolina Community Colleges report, and Central Piedmont’s efforts in providing international education opportunities to its students were featured in the report’s findings.

The report is a collaboration between the Belk Center and the North Carolina Community College System Office and uses data collected during the 2019-2020 academic year to explore how North Carolina community colleges address the system’s mission to “develop a globally and multi-cultural competent workforce.”

The report provides a broad overview of what sorts of international education opportunities are available at NC community colleges and suggests that international education is much more prevalent at NC community colleges than national data indicates.

Central Piedmont has been offering study abroad experiences to its students and members of the local community in for more than 20 years. Each year, during spring break and the summer term, Central Piedmont faculty members lead short-term study abroad excursions to a variety of locations across the globe, including: Ecuador, Italy, Greece, Japan, Thailand, Peru, Tanzania, and many others.

Since the college’s 2020 study abroad programs were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Global Learning Office has turned its attention to:

  • providing students with virtual, international exchange experiences
  • encouraging students to apply for the Scholars of Global Distinction program
  • ensuring the college’s curriculum includes a global learning perspective

To learn more, please contact global.learning@cpcc.edu or visit cpcc.edu/academics/global-learning/study-abroad.