The student with "golden" hands

(Baonghean) -For the first time in many years, Nghe An has a contestant who won first prize at the National Skills Competition for Universities, Colleges, and Vocational Schools nationwide. That is Cao Dang Tuan, a student at the Vietnam - Korea Industrial Technical Vocational College...

The school principal congratulated Cao Dang Tuan on receiving First Prize at the National Vocational Skills Competition.

I met Tuan when he had just returned from Hanoi after successfully completing the interview and skills test of Vikotex Company, Korea. With outstanding skills, Tuan surpassed 4 other candidates with the highest scores at the National Skills Competition to win an 80,000 USD scholarship for 15 months of skill improvement in Korea sponsored by Vikotex Company. The two joys came so unexpectedly that the student from Bac Son commune, Do Luong district was surprised.

Talking about himself, Tuan said that when he was studying at Do Luong 2 High School, his academic performance was very average. Therefore, when he received the results of failing the university entrance exam, he was not surprised. Therefore, while his friends of the same age, those who passed the university entrance exam held a party, those who failed told each other to go to Vinh to study again, Tuan quietly applied to the Vietnam - Korea Vocational College. He chose welding for a very simple reason: When he was at home, he often followed his uncle to work as a welder in the factory. Therefore, his uncle advised him to study this profession because it would be easier to get a job later. Later, looking at the reality in his hometown, many people who graduated from university but could not find a job or worked in a different profession, Tuan became more confident in his choice.

In the first days of school, life as a student away from home was very different from Tuan's imagination. Because, in the images Tuan saw in movies and books, students were often associated with lecture halls, with clean, beautiful clothes... But for Tuan and his classmates, the time spent in class was only a small part, the rest was spent working in the workshop, in protective clothing, their faces and hands and feet were rarely neat. But in return, the teachers taught him real knowledge, real skills, and the knowledge he had just acquired was much different from his uncle's small mechanical workshop at home. After studying for a year, he began to really love this profession and determined to study really well, so that at least if he could not be a good student, he would have a really "ripe" skill to have the opportunity to get a good job. Tuan's direct teacher, Mr. Pham Van Viet, recognized that this student had great potential, because Tuan not only had skillful hands but also had a high sense of discipline. During the entire teaching process, Tuan was never seen skipping class, never seen Tuan neglect even a simple welding job. The teacher "spotted" Tuan to join the school team when he was just a second-year student.

However, that was only the thought of teacher Pham Van Viet, but in reality, he never let Tuan and other students know this. Therefore, when choosing the school team to compete in the provincial and national vocational competition, Tuan and the other 10 members had to go through many stressful practice and tests. But Tuan did not disappoint everyone because in every competition he performed excellently and became the only student representing the school and the province to compete in the Welding Technology subject. The preparation process for this competition was also extremely difficult because it took a year and a half from preparation to competition. The period of intense concentration for the exam was a full 7 months. During that time, teacher Pham Van Viet said that from Monday to Saturday, teachers and students had to work from 6am to 6pm in the workshop every day, with only a 2-hour lunch break a day. As for Tuan, although he misses home very much, he rarely dares to go home because the requirements of the national skills competition are too high, with a lot of knowledge outside the curriculum.

For example, the exam required candidates to know how to weld 6G weld joints on all three materials: black steel, white steel and aluminum. Despite studying for more than a year, Tuan only completed the weld about a month before the exam. The pressure was too great, if there was no willpower and determination, it would be difficult to complete. Fortunately, teacher Pham Van Viet was also a student of the school and had won second prize in the vocational competition 4 years ago. Therefore, both teacher and student worked, studied and shared experiences. Tuan also learned a lot from his teacher about his seriousness, diligence, discipline and enthusiasm for his work even though he was still very young and had not been teaching for long.

The careful preparation finally paid off when entering the competition, despite having 46 competitors from many large universities and vocational colleges, Tuan was still confident in taking the test. Even when the test had a question that was not in the outline, he was not worried but calmly finished his test. When he received the results and reported them to his family and school, everyone was overjoyed. The principal personally drove to Hanoi to pick Tuan and the whole winning team up to return. This was also the most glorious victory of Nghe An to date, the first time in a national vocational competition that our province had a student win first prize.

With the results he has achieved, with a “dream” scholarship, Tuan has a bright future ahead of him. However, speaking about himself, Tuan is modest: “I just think I did well. The rest belongs to the teachers and the school...” This weekend, Tuan will fly to Korea, a new environment, new teachers will certainly make him feel confused, but he believes that he will do well and his first goal is to represent Vietnam to conquer the 10th ASEAN Skills Competition in Vietnam held in October 2014 and the 43rd World Skills Competition in Brazil held in 2015.

My Ha