Senior Chau Le, originally from Hanoi, Vietnam, has combined her passion for helping others as a student leader on campus. Le balances her leadership roles at Do Random Acts of Kindness (DoRAK), Yes Means Yes and the Colgate Vietnamese Society, and is also involved at the Office of Residential Life and the Office of Admission.

As a leader of DoRAK, Le works to improve the little things in the lives of her peers. DoRAK aims to help students relax and stay cheerful throughout stressful semesters.

Le is also involved with Yes Means Yes, a positive sexuality course that runs for six weeks and works diligently to promote healthy discussion on preventing sexual violence and sexuality.

Le also strives through the Colgate Vietnamese Society to teach people about Vietnamese culture and help mentor Vietnamese students and peers.

“I personally see it as a chance to get to know, and also mentor, Vietnamese underclassmen,” Le said. “It’s for anyone who is interested in Vietnamese culture.”

Le is passionate about her jobs in the Office of Admission and the Office of Residential Life, which have given her the opportunity to get to know many people. By working in admissions, Le hopes to influence the next generation of Colgate students by bringing in a broader range of students with diverse backgrounds.

Though Le decided to study psychology, she continued to take theater classes. Eventually, this interest led Le to also concentrate in Theater, something her professors urged as well.

Le became passionate about one of her most thought-provoking classes, Psychotherapy and Behavioral Change, through a self-improvement project she was assigned. The assignment tasked students with following a goal and recording their progress achieving the goal. She had recently found a BuzzFeed article that discussed swapping clothes with friends, which she decided to do with her friend Seung-ah.

“I thought the clothing swap would be a good way to work on my goal to improve self-confidence,” Le elaborated.

Her clothing swap project developed into a personal project she continued to expand upon. “I’m not creating content like BuzzFeed, but I think it was worthwhile to incorporate it into my assignment for psychotherapy,” Le said.

To this day, Le’s accomplishments and goals harken back to her belief in the people around her. Le takes it upon herself to learn about her peers and help those younger than her, going beyond what others are willing to do. 

Contact Kuba Alicki at [email protected].