Shy Nghe An girl becomes '5 good' female student

From a shy girl who was afraid of crowds, Van Anh (22 years old) has boldly overcome her weaknesses and become a "5 good student" for the entire 2014-2015 school year.

In the days leading up to Tet, when everyone is eagerly waiting and planning to go out, Nguyen Van Anh (22 years old, final year student of English Pedagogy, Vinh University) is still diligently studying to prepare for the upcoming exam.Van Anh also plans to look for opportunities to study abroad after graduation.

Van Anh took a photo with Mr. Le Quoc Phong - Chairman of HSVVN at the 5 Good Students Award Ceremony. Photo: NVCC.

Van Anh determined that university is a place for her to strive, practice and mature, so she focused right from the first year and did not allow herself to “relax” after achieving her goal of entering the lecture hall. Elected as Vice President of the Foreign Language Pedagogy Faculty Union, Van Anh actively participated in the work of the Youth Union, the Association as well as the extracurricular activities of the school and class.

The female student shared that she was shy and afraid of crowds, so she rarely interacted with people since high school. When she was elected as Vice President of the Faculty Association, she felt a bit pressured and unconfident, but still decided to do it to change herself.“The university environment is very different from high school and requires each person to be proactive in their studies, so I wanted to try joining a union for a change. Union and association activities have helped me become more confident, bolder and no longer afraid of appearing in front of a crowd,” Van Anh shared.

With the view that a person can develop comprehensively by balancing activities and getting along with everyone, Van Anh always makes specific plans, classifies the level of importance and less importance for each task and arranges them into reasonable time periods to both complete her studies and work and build relationships in life.

Although she has many friends and has to communicate frequently at work, this female student does not use Facebook because she thinks it will waste a lot of her precious time in the virtual world.“I know that on Facebook there are many effective educational pages, a very valuable source of documents. However, most young people nowadays are too indulgent when they only know how to post pictures and moods to get likes, people come and go comment randomly. This is no longer a true personal page,” Van Anh said.

Nguyen Van Anh. Photo: Phan Ngoc.

The female student admitted that not using Facebook was sometimes inconvenient because some school announcements posted on Facebook would not be received in time. This also made it difficult to contact group members and relatives during volunteer trips to teach Vietnamese in Xieng Khouang province (Laos) in the summer of 2015.

Recalling that volunteer trip, Van Anh said that it was a “memorable” trip as she was away from home for more than a month for the first time. As the group leader, she had to worry about food, accommodation, and living expenses for 24 people in a foreign country. The students in the course were of all ages and backgrounds, so Van Anh had to divide them into appropriate communes to ensure effective teaching. The group only had two Laotian students as interpreters, so the group had to use English and body language to teach.

Actively participating in union activities, Van Anh still determined that studying is the main goal. With her tireless efforts, the girl from Nghe An has been a good student every year, achieving excellent student results in the 2014-2015 school year, winning first prize for scientific research students in the Faculty of Foreign Languages ​​Education in 2015. She also won second prize in the Writing Contest organized by the US Embassy in 2013, achieved IELTS 6.5 and completed FCE (CEFR level B2).

At the 66th anniversary of the traditional day of students on January 7, the Vietnam Student Association selected 101 students who met the criteria to be awarded the title of "5 Good Students" from 268 applications nationwide.Nguyen Van Anh is the only person from Nghe An to achieve the title of 5 good students nationwide in the 2014-2015 school year. The person who wins this title must meet 5 factors:good morals, good study, good physical strength, good volunteering and good integration.

Van Anh with Ms. Katherine Muller-Marin, UNESCO Representative in Vietnam. Photo: NVCC.

Talking about her future plans, Van Anh said she is trying to find a scholarship to study abroad to improve her knowledge and explore new lands. Teaching was not the first choice when taking the university entrance exam, however, after studying and interacting with students, Van Anh loves, respects and wishes to stand on the podium even more.

According to VNE