The special season of the gifted student competition at Nguyen Duy Trinh High School.

The school's first valedictorian.

Nguyen Linh Trang, a student from class 12A1 at Nguyen Duy Trinh High School, is perhaps the biggest surprise in the 2025-2026 provincial-level excellent student competition, as she is the first student not from a specialized high school to win first prize.valedictorianComputer Science.

This subject is not typically an advantage for female students, and the participation rate among women is low. Therefore, Trang's achievement brought double joy to her family and the school. For Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh, the teacher who coached the Informatics team, this competition held special significance as it was the first year she was assigned the task of coaching the team. Besides Linh Trang, the other team member, Nguyen Quoc Khanh, also excelled, winning second place and contributing to a successful Informatics team competition.

In the Informatics team, Nguyen Linh Trang is a quiet and rather shy student. But it was at Nguyen Duy Trinh High School, a school nearly 20km from her home, that Trang gained the trust of her teachers and had even more opportunities to develop her abilities.

Speaking about Trang, teacher Nguyen Thi Anh recalled the beginning of 10th grade. At that time, Trang was one of the very few students who proactively approached her to ask to join the gifted student team training: "Before joining the team, many students were already familiar with programming. But Trang only had the knowledge of a middle school student and had never taken any extra classes outside of school. I myself was quite skeptical at first, but after a short time, Trang made remarkable progress. Trang had an advantage: she was very good at math, intelligent, had sharp thinking, and was diligent. Besides learning from me in class, Trang also had a self-study mindset, diligently researching online and on forums to learn about new programming knowledge," added Ms. Anh.

Although Trang started learning computer science later than her classmates, thanks to her natural talent, she progressed quickly. Therefore, in 10th grade, Trang won second prize in the school's student excellence competition. In 11th grade, she rose to win first prize and subsequently consistently led the team.Provincial Excellent Student ExaminationTrang said that she was initially quite worried because Computer Science is a strong point for students at specialized schools, and there are many excellent students in that field.

During the exam, Trang herself encountered a virus issue and had to retake the test, leaving her little time to check her results. Therefore, upon learning that she had won first prize and was the top scorer with 16.5 points, Trang was quite surprised: "When I entered the competition, I simply thought I had to try my best and never imagined I would win such a high prize. Therefore, this result is beyond my expectations. This also motivates me to be more confident in myself and continue pursuing my dream of working in cybersecurity."

Outstanding female students

For many years now, Nguyen Duy Trinh High School has finally had a student win first prize in Literature. The winner, Dinh Tran Thao Dan, from class 12A, said: "I trembled when I heard the news that I had won first prize. Besides my own efforts, I thank the teachers who have wholeheartedly helped and nurtured me during my three years of high school, giving me the knowledge and confidence to overcome my own limitations."

Dinh Tran Thao Dan grew up in a family where her mother was a Literature teacher and her father was a Math teacher. Although she excelled in all subjects, Dan chose to focus on Literature because she wanted to become a Literature teacher, following in her mother's footsteps. From the 9th grade, Dan won second prize in the provincial Literature competition and dreamed of getting into the province's specialized high school. When she missed out by just 0.5 points, Dan set her sights on the 12th-grade Literature competition with determination during her three years of high school.

Accompanying Thao Dan, teacher Nguyen Thanh Binh said: "Dan has a good foundation in Literature from her middle school years, so from grade 11, when teaching and mentoring her, I always encouraged her to develop her full potential. However, with the new curriculum, the exam questions are outside the textbook, requiring candidates to have broad knowledge in both practical understanding and theory, so I also have very high expectations of my students. Specifically with Dan, I am always stricter and rarely give grades that accurately reflect her abilities so that she doesn't become complacent or lose points on small mistakes. Personally, I highly appreciate Dan's self-study ability, diligence, hard work, and passion for reading. In addition, she has strengths in the theoretical section, her writing style is rich in emotion, creative, and reflects her own personality, expressing her own opinions, which is suitable for the 'open-ended' exam questions."

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Every feedback, whether positive or negative, helps me improve. Thanks to my teacher's strictness, I have developed the ability to learn independently and explore on my own. Without pressure, I wouldn't have formed such good study habits.

Student Dinh Tran Thao Dan

Besides Literature, History is also a subject that brings high achievements to Nguyen Duy Trinh High School, with 100% of the candidates winning prizes, including 1 first prize, 4 second prizes and 1 consolation prize.

Nguyen Minh Phuong, a 12th-grade student from class 12D and winner of the first prize in History, said: "Although I'm in the humanities/social sciences stream, I still really enjoy History because it's a subject connected to many specific events and figures. During my studies, I often read through the material to understand it, then memorize it, expand on the topic, and relate it to real-world situations. I also frequently watch historical documentaries to understand the essence of the subject."

To ensure a successful exam season, teacher Hoang Thi Hanh, head of the History team, said: "Besides basic and advanced knowledge, I always want to instill a love of history in my students. Personally, I am very happy because during the training process, I realized that they have a genuine passion for history, especially Vietnamese history. Therefore, learning comes more easily to them, and throughout the exam preparation process, that love gives them more motivation to try harder and study well, and do well in the exam."

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We are very pleased with the results the school has achieved this academic year. Besides the efforts and dedication of the students, the exam results have affirmed the quality of education at the school and the love and enthusiasm of the teachers.

This also motivates teachers and students to innovate teaching methods, aiming for increasingly higher quality in key areas, helping students develop comprehensively.

Teacher Cao Duc Tai – Vice Principal of Nguyen Duy Trinh High School