Vietnamese Student Association held its first luncheon and sold $3 admission tickets throughout the week for students to get a plate full of traditional Vietnamese dishes.

Students and teachers crowded into Room 2603 to walk through the buffet line of fried rice, eggrolls, dumplings and Vietnamese coffee on Oct. 26. Members volunteered to bring in dishes of their choice to serve and share their favorite foods. Sophomore Dylan Tran chose to bring egg rolls.

“I originally was going to bring spring rolls, but I wasn’t sure if everyone would like everything in it,” Dylan Tran said. “I don’t like lettuce and mint in mine, so I brought egg rolls instead. I told the officers that they should host a spring roll making day so people can wrap whatever they want in the rice paper.”

Sophomores Kevin Yan and Kenny Kwok made six trays of fried rice together with Keith Luo. The fried rice was the most popular dish at the luncheon, getting compliments on having both beef and vegetarian options.

“I found it enjoyable because I really enjoyed cooking and I just think it’s really nice that people enjoy my food,” Kwok said. “We had three people so we could split it [the trays of fried rice] evenly between us so we could store it easier. I think my experience with serving was really nice because I think I’m just a person that’s easy to communicate with and I like to talk to people. I enjoy it because I see people enjoy it. It’s nice to savor.”

Most dishes were dropped off in the morning or at the beginning of lunch, but traditional Vietnamese coffee and Thai tea were made in the backroom. Sophomore Emma Tran and Nina Nguyen brought an electric kettle and other ingredients to make drinks.

“I helped boil water in a kettle with the vice president and measure the instant powder and condensed milk,” Emma Tran said. “I don’t like coffee, but I think if we had milk and sugar it would taste better. Another member brought milk tea later on and it was really good.”

A few challenges were faced when planning for the luncheon. The officers and club sponsor Caroline Vu met the day prior to work out the issues of not having enough food, an oven or ice and how to set up before lunch.

“Although it was stressful because we rescheduled the luncheon due to the busy week of testing and Homecoming, I am glad everything went well in the end,” President and senior Sebastian Nguyen said. “This was our first luncheon and it was a learning experience that we will use to make future events more efficient and organized.”

The luncheon had a show up of about 90 students and raised about $250. The club plans to use the money to arrange future events or donate to organizations that provide help to Vietnam.

“I was actually really surprised by how fast we sold tickets,” Nguyen said. “It got to the point where we had to cap the amount we sold because of the limited amount of food. I realized that in the future we could have more profitable fundraisers because of how many students wanted food.”

VSA meets Wednesdays during the first half of lunch in Room 2603. For more information, join VSA’s Remind @bhsvsa22 or follow their Instagram @bhs_vsa.