Trish Leung says the camps are a 'welcoming experience'
By Brittany Anas, For the Colorado Daily
Posted: 08/09/2009 07:05:10 PM MDT

University of Colorado senior Trish Leung teaches children at Colorado Heritage Camp the Vietnamese game Bau Cua Ca Cop. It s translated into English as Gord, Crab, Fish and Tiger. Trish Leung is a leader at a camp where younger children make crafts and sing traditional Vietnamese songs while older children do more physical activities like zip-lining and canoeing. The University of Colorado student is a volunteer with Colorado Heritage Camp, which has events in Denver and Fraser for children and teenagers who have been adopted from a foreign country into American families. Leung is helping lead a camp this weekend in Fraser, and she said she will volunteer over Labor Day weekend at the Chinese Heritage Camp, which is also in Fraser.

"The adopted children see themselves as physically different from their family," she said. "In my role as a counselor, they can see someone like me who looks like them and who makes it a welcoming experience."

As a camp volunteer, Leung teams up with three other counselors who work with a dozen children ranging from preschool- to high school-ages. Heritage camps are also available for children of other ethnic backgrounds -- including African, Filipino, Korean, Russian, Cambodian and Indian. The children and teenagers who attend the Vietnamese Heritage Camp usually are either adopted from Vietnam or are brothers and sisters of Vietnamese adoptees who can learn from the experience as well.

"I feel like I can be a strong role model in helping them learn about their Asian heritage but also embrace their American background as well," Leung said.

Leung -- a psychology and Asian studies major -- said that she started volunteering with the kindergartners, and this year is working with second-graders.