** If you prefer not to donate through our GoFundMe, you may donate via Venmo at @HSA_UCI **

Hello everyone,

Our names are Yengkai Yang and Yimeng Mouanoutoua. We are this year’s High School Outreach (HSO) Chairs for the Hmong Student Association (HSA) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI).

As HSO Chairs, we are the main coordinators in charge of organizing and running our 12th Annual High School Outreach Conference: Hmong Inspiring to Gain Higher Education and Recruitment (H.I.G.H.E.R.)

What is HSA at UCI?

We, the Hmong Student Association at the University of California, Irvine, are a student-led organization that strives to foster open communication between Hmong students, the Irvine community, and surrounding Hmong communities of Southern California. We aim to provide an atmosphere where students can share and promote a deeper understanding of Hmong culture with one another and the broader UCI community, encourage higher education, and provide leadership and community service opportunities. Through our efforts, we hope more people will become aware of the history of our people—who we are and why we are here today in America.

Earlier this year, HSA at UCI held events such as the Anteater Involvement Fair, Beach Bonfire, and Ice Cream Social, where we aimed to connect with our future freshmen and transfer students.

What is our Annual High School Outreach Conference: Hmong Inspiring to Gain Higher Education and Recruitment (H.I.G.H.E.R.)?

We are proud to announce our 12th Annual High School Outreach Program, an all-expenses-paid conference that aims to impact and educate Hmong high school students primarily from Northern California on the importance of pursuing higher education. These students, from cities such as Fresno, Sacramento, and Merced, often lack support or awareness of the resources available to them once they enter college and may not have the opportunity to explore universities far from home in Southern California, such as UCI.

Our goal is to inspire and educate these students about the countless resources college has to offer while helping them become leaders in their own communities.

Although our primary audience is Hmong high school students from Northern California, our program is open to and we encourage Hmong and non-Hmong participants from all regions of California to apply.

This will be a 3-day, 2-night event taking place on:

Program Dates: February 14, 2026 to February 16, 2026

We will provide students with hotel accommodations near UCI, roundtrip transportation from Fresno to the UCI campus via charter bus, and meals (UCI dining halls and meals prepared by our organization) for the entirety of the event.

Some workshops and activities students will engage in include a campus tour of UCI, navigating the college admissions process, learning about campus and college resources, hands-on workshops, outdoor activities, and more.

If you’d like to learn more about our program, please check out our HSO Interest Form post on our Instagram page and our HSO Itinerary 2024–25 from the previous year.

How do we fund our program (and why do we need more funds)?

To ensure we have enough funding for our program, we are affiliated with the Student Outreach and Retention Center (SOAR). The SOAR Center is a student-led space that aims to motivate and inspire future youth through innovative outreach and retention programs, whether run by the center itself or by student-led organizations supported by SOAR.

We anticipate additional costs of approximately $2,000. All projections (what SOAR covers and what we must cover) are based on a program group of approximately 36–40 people, including student participants and volunteers, for 3 days and 2 nights.

SOAR currently helps fund:

We currently need additional funding for:

By reaching our goal of $2,000, we hope to fully cover all additional expenses listed above, allowing us to finalize our program while keeping it completely free for all student participants.

Any additional funds received beyond our $2,000 goal, or any leftover funds, will be carried over to support future programs within our organization.

Thank You

We sincerely appreciate everyone who is able to donate to our 12th Annual High School Outreach Conference, helping us fully fund our program and keep it free for all participants. Your donation will greatly support Hmong students as they navigate higher education, explore potential careers, and plan their futures beyond education.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about our program or would like to learn more about our organization, please contact us via Instagram at @hsa.uci.

Our previous year’s itinerary can be found here: HSO Itinerary 2024–25