The story of a poor female student who will be honored at the ceremony to honor excellent students and students with high scores.

Never give up hope

In the recent high school graduation exam, Huyen scored 52.9 points and was one of the five ethnic minority students who were honored with the Social Science subject group graduation score. Receiving this result, Huyen had two different feelings, both happy and mixed.

After more than two weeks of thinking, Huyen discussed with her mother and decided to go to Hanoi, applying for a job as a waitress at a restaurant in Vinh Tuy ward. Working 6 hours a day, Huyen is paid about 4 million VND and is provided with free food and accommodation. The work is hard and difficult, but Huyen has the motivation to try every day. Receiving this job, Huyen hopes to be able to maintain it for many years to have the funds to study at university and fulfill her wish.

Van Thi Thanh Huyen is the only female student of 1/5 High School to be recognized as a student with high scores at the Provincial Ceremony to honor excellent students and students with high scores this school year. Photo: NVCC

Huyền was born and raised in a special situation where only her mother and she lived together. Later, her mother got married, and she moved to live with her grandmother in a small house in Nghia Tho commune, Nghia Dan district. After living with her grandmother for a while, her grandmother became seriously ill and passed away. Since then, even though her mother lives nearby to help and take care of her, Huyền still lives alone most of the time in the old house of the two of them.

For many years, Huyen's family has been poor and near-poor. As a student of the Tho ethnic group and living in a particularly difficult area (nearly 10km away from school), Huyen receives monthly support from the State including 15kg of rice and a living allowance of nearly 800,000 VND. Her mother's circumstances are also difficult, so Huyen only lives on the subsidy. Loving her little student, every year on special occasions of the school and class, Huyen is always the first student on the support list. In response to the teachers' kindness, Huyen is diligent and studies well, for three consecutive years she has been an excellent student and an excellent student of the school.

Despite difficult circumstances, Huyen always tries to excel in her studies. Photo: NVCC

Due to difficult circumstances, Huyen never thought that she would take the university entrance exam. Her dream was simply to study a foreign language well so that she could go abroad to work and soon have money to support herself and her mother's family. Therefore, in preparation for the High School Graduation Exam this year, Huyen did not go to extra classes nor register for online courses like her peers. All of Huyen's knowledge is mainly self-taught and carefully taught by teachers in class.

Although she did not pay much attention to this exam, with her intelligent and hard-working nature, Huyen had a successful exam with a score of 7.4 in Math, 9.25 in Literature, 8 in English, 9 in Geography and 10 in Civic Education. With this score, Huyen has a score of 27.5 points in block C and 28.5 points in block C19 (not including priority points). Huyen also said: The other subjects are in line with my ability at school. However, I feel a bit sorry for Math because I really did not spend much time on this subject because I thought I only needed enough points to graduate.

Wish to change

With the above score, Huyen has many opportunities to enter university. But due to the difficult situation, Huyen and her family hesitated a lot. Huyen added: At first, I decided to go to work abroad. But after knowing the score, I really regretted it. In the end, I registered for block D at the German Department - University of Foreign Languages ​​- Hanoi National University.

The most difficult problem for Huyen at present is the cost of 4 years of studying at university far from home. Although her mother encouraged and supported her, Huyen knew that earning millions for her child to study in Hanoi was beyond the family's ability. That was also the reason why, right after deciding to go to university, Huyen asked an acquaintance to help her find a job in Hanoi so that she could work and take care of her own life. This female student of the Tho ethnic group also shared that: For now, I do not have to worry about food and accommodation because the host family has provided it for me. Later, when I am more stable, I can do many other jobs or become a tutor.

Huyen enrolled in the University of Foreign Languages, majoring in German, to fulfill her dream of becoming a teacher and future interpreter. Photo: NVCC

By being honored at the Provincial People's Committee's Commendation Ceremony in the 2022 - 2023 school year, Van Thi Thanh Huyen became the first ethnic minority student of 1/5 High School to be included in this list.

Talking about Huyen, teacher Le Thi Van - the homeroom teacher is also very proud of her special student, especially about Huyen's determination and willpower in studying: When she first entered grade 10, Huyen was just an average student and did not stand out much in class. Knowing her situation, teachers and classmates often came to her house to encourage and help. Thanks to that, from a shy student, Huyen became confident, bold and gradually actively participated in class and school activities.

Huyen (third from right) with her homeroom teacher and classmates. Photo: NVCC

Huyen's homeroom teacher also said that she herself is an ethnic minority, so during her studies, she always encouraged Huyen and her classmates to always strive and strive to assert themselves and have a good future...

The desire to change also motivated Huyen to overcome difficulties and realize her ambition./.