The journey of a "village teacher" to win a full scholarship to America

Teacher"village"with a distance learning university degree

“Suddenly want to cry” is a short message that teacher Dang Quang Tam wrote on his personal page after receiving a reply letter from the Fulbright Scholarship Fund (a scholarship fund sponsored by the US Government for high-achieving individuals who want to study for a Master's or PhD in the US).

This post seems to be unable to express his feelings after more than a year of effort, waiting, anxiety and hope. Today's result is not a coincidence but the "sweet fruit" of a village teacher's journey to conquer his aspirations and strive to rise up!

Teacher Dang Quang Tam was once featured in an article by Nghe An Newspaper after receiving the title of Outstanding Teacher and being awarded the title of Best Homeroom Teacher by students. Photo: My Ha

Dang Quang Tam was born in Ngoc Son commune, Do Luong district, in a family of 8 children, most of whom dropped out of school because of poverty. He was the youngest son, and his mother suddenly passed away when he was in 5th grade, so his journey to adulthood was full of difficulties.

After finishing secondary school and then high school, he enrolled in Nghe An Pedagogical College without much hesitation, simply because this was a major that students were exempted from tuition fees. However, while his friends still chose traditional majors such as Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Literature... he chose English and was admitted to the 2nd English Training Course of the Pedagogical College.

After graduating, he was assigned to teach at Giang Son Secondary School - one of the schools located in the most mountainous and difficult area of ​​Do Luong district at that time.

In 2002, English was first introduced to Giang Son Secondary School, so it is difficult to describe all the hardships and difficulties of those who “paved the way”. However, those difficulties also became the motivation for young teachers, newly graduated like Mr. Tam and his colleagues to demonstrate and promote their youthfulness.

Four years after entering the school, Mr. Tam's first batch of students achieved encouraging results when, for the first time, Giang Son Secondary School had a student win third prize in English at the Provincial Excellent Student Competition for 9th graders.

In the eyes of students, Mr. Tam is an enthusiastic teacher who loves his job and is devoted to his students. For many years, he has been ranked in the top 3 in the province for his achievements in nurturing excellent students. Photo: PV

That first success was also the opportunity for Mr. Tam to be selected to participate in the provincial excellent teacher competition and excellently held the second position, even though compared to other teachers, he was "younger" in terms of age, experience and only had a university degree in English, a distance learning program.

This is also a favorable step for him to be transferred to Ly Nhat Quang Secondary School - the highest quality school with the most achievements in the district. After more than 10 years working at the school, in addition to his achievements in training excellent students in the province, he also had initiatives and experiences recognized at level 4 and was honored by the Department of Education and Training as an Outstanding Teacher for the period 2008 - 2012.

Fulbright Scholarship and the story of studying for a master's degree in the US

With his current position, teacher Dang Quang Tam can of course be satisfied with himself. However, based on his own ability and desire, he always knows that if he does not continue studying, he will be "outdated", first of all with his own students.

This was also the reason why he was determined to get a master's degree. However, due to his family's circumstances, he thought that studying for a master's degree in Vietnam would be very difficult. And, by chance, he found the Fulbright scholarship after searching for information online and decided to apply simply because "this scholarship does not discriminate between degrees, regular or distance learning".

To improve his career, especially his listening and speaking skills, Mr. Dang Quang Tam proactively registered to attend many seminars organized by the British Council and foreign organizations. At the same time, he participated in many competitions to obtain English certificates to test his own abilities. Photo: PV

Coming to this scholarship, he also just started to learn and could not help but worry when knowing that this is one of the scholarships considered "the most prestigious on the planet".

In the 26-year history of the Fund's operations in Vietnam, only 500 people have received this scholarship, and most of them are famous people, many of them are famous politicians.

Right in Nghe An, the most recent person to receive this scholarship was 10 years ago and is now the Head of Training Department at the largest University in the province.

During more than a year of conquering the Fulbright Scholarship, teacher Dang Quang Tam also experienced many challenges: "When I applied, I didn't have any experience. So when they asked me to write a "personal essay", I told myself, just write honestly.

I told the story of how I had just started learning English in grade 10 but had to drop out in grade 12 because the school lacked teachers. Then I told about teaching English in a district far from the center and expressed my desire to study to improve my knowledge, to have enough qualifications to do well in the role of a core teacher and to spread the spirit of self-study among the teaching staff.

Teacher Dang Quang Tam was once selected by the Department of Education and Training to attend a short-term training course in Malaysia. Photo: PV

With that sincerity, he surpassed 500 other candidates nationwide and together with 45 others entered the second interview round. This was also the biggest challenge when he had to face 3 judges from the Fulbright Organization alone in an interview that lasted nearly 1 hour.

Mr. Dang Quang Tam recalled: "There were many questions but I remember the first one the most, which was "Why should Fulbright grant you a scholarship?" At that time, I was quite worried but kept thinking about how to answer correctly for myself and I said: I may not be the best candidate but I think I am suitable because I not only study for myself but also for the whole community...".

Although he was quite confident in his interview round, teacher Dang Quang Tam had to wait nearly a year because he was only the second candidate to be accepted as a reserve candidate (the upgrade to an official candidate must be based on the budget approved by the US Government).

During that time, he also searched for and won a scholarship for a 9-month teaching assistant program in the US. However, with a desire to receive formal training, he decided to wait for the master's program and give up the teaching assistant program even though the program's chances were 50-50. He said: "At the beginning of May, I had already applied for next year, preparing to look for a new opportunity. But surprisingly, I received the admission decision 2 days after submitting my application."

Mr. Tam and his wife are both English teachers in Do Luong district. Photo: PV

Along with being recognized as having passed the entrance exam, he also received acceptance letters from 3 major universities in the US, namely Central Michigan University, Minnesota State University and Saint Michael's College. These are all schools that have been established for over 100 years and have a lot of experience in training in the Matesol major - the master's degree in teaching English that he applied for.

Currently, although he is hesitant in the process of choosing a school, he believes that with his ability to adapt easily to circumstances and his eagerness to learn, he will be able to develop his abilities; at the same time, fulfill the role of a "Cultural Ambassador" in the spirit of the Fulbright Scholarship Fund.has been proposed.

The Fulbright Program was established in 1946 with funding from the U.S. Congress, with the goal of promoting mutual understanding through cultural and educational exchange. This scholarship provides full financial support for students throughout the course of study, including tuition, books, airfare, living expenses, and health insurance.with a value of more than 2 billion VND.

In 2018, Vietnam had 16 people receiving Fulbright scholarships (in 29 fields). Teacher Dang Quang Tam - in the field of education is the oldest person on the list of successful candidates (38 years old) and is the first secondary school teacher to win this scholarship.