MATC Matters

While most of us were enjoying our Thanksgiving holiday, there was another celebration going on: each year the Madison Hmong community holds an annual Hmong New Year Celebration, a traditional Hmong celebration usually held after the harvest. It’s a time for young people to meet and for the older generation to pass culture on to the younger generation.

This year, MATC was a sponsor for the event held at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison. An average of 6,000 people attended, drawing from all over Wisconsin. The Office of Diversity & Community Relations coordinated the MATC presence at the event and our booth featured program, service and employment information.

Kou Her, ABE instructor, and Hmong students staffed the table. Zong Her, from the Institutional Research and Effectiveness Office, presented on the social, economic and educational state of the Hmong population in Wisconsin. The Hmong are the largest Asian subgroup in Wisconsin. MATC enrolls an average of 1,500 (degree and nondegree) Hmong students each year.

(photo: New Year celebrants Jordan Simonis and Rebecca Her in Traditional Hmong Costumes)