‘Dare to take up space’: Chi Truong reflects on finding her place at Miami

To Chi Truong, arriving at Miami University meant starting from scratch.

Hailing from Dong Hoi, Vietnam, she crossed international borders for the first time four years ago. Her time at Miami was not defined by searching, but by a single decision: to take up space.

Now a senior pursuing a major in international studies and minors in Spanish and education, teaching and learning, Truong now holds numerous leadership positions. She is a Geoffrion Family Fellow, a student orientation undergraduate leader (SOUL) and a member of the Scholar Leader program. She is most proud of receiving the President’s Distinguished Achievement Award, as well as the Ohio International Consortium’s Outstanding International Student Award.

“I came from a background where, you know, being overly confident is looked [down] upon,” Truong said. “Seeing that other people see me and they see how hard I’m trying is really heartwarming.”

This concluding year, Truong conducted research through the John W. Altman Program in the humanities as a Geoffrion Family Fellow, where she studied the visibility of Vietnamese communities in the Midwest. Truong said traveling and seeing Vietnamese communities across the region reassured her “my people are here,” strengthening her own sense of place.

Carving out space for conversations centered on place and visibility is not unique to her research, and it parallels Truong’s own intercultural navigation. Accustomed to Vietnam’s deep sense of communal oneness and humility, Truong said she struggled — and still does — to navigate the individualism and what she described as surface-level “small talk and friendliness” of Western social culture.

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Over time, what once felt like competing identities became complementary. As a first-year finding her footing, Truong said the year was marked by moments leading her to question where she fit. Remarks of racism meant to make her shrink became the moment she decided she wouldn’t.

“This will not be my downfall,” Truong said, when asked what kept her going. “That was the first time that I dare to take up space.”

Truong found community through campus involvement, including SOUL leadership, studying abroad in Barcelona and connecting with like-minded peers, though that sense of camaraderie did not come easily.

“There is no single definition of community,” Truong said.

Not only does Truong lead by example, but she leads by serving, said Emma Pooley, a sophomore double major in linguistics and speech pathology and audiology. Pooley trained under Truong to become a writing consultant at the now-closed English Language Learning Center.

Though Truong may appear reserved at first glance, Pooley said her warmth is not centered on broad friendliness, but rather an intentionality that allows her to see people deeply and individually.

“She just kind of lights up whatever room that she is in,” Sophia Goldberg, a senior media and communication major, and one of Truong’s current Geoffrion fellow peers. “She makes people feel better about their own work, and she makes people want to collaborate more”.

After graduation, Truong will participate in a one-year work visa program, where she will continue to travel. Wherever she goes next, she said she will carry the phrase “Người thật, việc thật,” roughly translating to “Real people, real work.” For Truong, the phrase serves as a guiding principle to lead with authenticity and let her honest work to speak for itself.

“Find your values and use that to become who you want to be,” Truong said. “It doesn’t have to be an ethnic culture. It’s a human culture.”

hippekl@miamioh.edu