Tho ethnic male student and hat-trick at provincial excellent student exam

Impressive achievements

In the recent provincial excellent student competition, Dong Hieu High School (Thai Hoa town) won 8 Second prizes, 3 Third prizes and 7 Encouragement prizes. This is quite an impressive achievement for a school that has only been established for 21 years and is located in a mountainous area with many difficulties.

Standing out among this year’s winners, ethnic minority student Hoang Le Minh (born in 2005) is the only student of the school to win three prizes at the same time, including: Second Prize in Math, Third Prize in Physics and Encouragement Prize in English. This achievement has helped him become the first student of the school to win three prizes at the same time in the provincial excellent student competition in over 20 years.

Male student Hoang Le Minh (Dong Hieu High School, Thai Hoa town) won 3 prizes at the same time at the recent provincial excellent student competition for grade 12. Photo: Thanh Quynh

Witnessing Minh’s growth over the past 3 years of school, his homeroom teacher, Mr. Truong Dinh Sam, said that Minh is a Tho ethnic, born in Nghia Long (Nghia Dan). Since childhood, he lacked his mother’s affection, and his father and son depended on each other. Perhaps that is why he soon developed an independent lifestyle and a more mature personality than his peers.

Since entering grade 1, Minh has been considered an intelligent and understanding boy. However, he is quite shy and timid. To encourage his son, his father, who is also a teacher, used all his love and experience to give him more confidence in himself. With that encouragement, he boldly participated in the National Internet English Olympiad (IOE) when he was still a primary school student. The Bronze Medal he won from the English Olympiad gave him confidence. And this is also an important milestone for him to gradually create a passion for learning.

Hoang Le Minh and his homeroom teacher Truong Dinh Sam. He is the one who accompanied and guided him during his high school years to achieve many remarkable achievements. Photo: Dinh Tuyen

During the following school years, he was always an excellent student, achieving many high achievements in district and provincial excellent student competitions. What makes Minh special in the eyes of teachers is that he has a long history of achievements in almost all subjects. In addition to his achievements in the recent provincial excellent student competition, Hoang Le Minh also won the Second Prize in Young Informatics of Nghia Dan district in 2019, the title of excellent student in the Chemistry Olympiad organized by Nghe An Chemistry Association in 2022, the Third Prize in the provincial science and technology competition in the 2020-2021 school year, the title of "3 Good Students" at the provincial level in the 2021-2022 school year...

Hoang Le Minh's academic achievements. Photo: Thanh Quynh

Looking back at his achievements, Hoang Le Minh confided: "My father always said that he believed in me. And that belief is the motivation for me to strive every day. After each class, my father cooked me every meal, sewed up my clothes that had come unstitched, and stayed up all night when I was sick. Sometimes when I was in a fever, I saw my father still holding my hand tightly, and then the next morning when I woke up, I saw my father's eyes were dark from lack of sleep, but he was still smiling at me. Therefore, I consider studying as a reward, the only gift I can give my father after all the hardships and sacrifices he has made for me. That is also the gratitude I send to the teachers who have guided me during my studies."

The secret of a student with a special memory

Hoang Le Minh has a very special memory, many interesting stories about this are still remembered by teachers. For example, a memory of Minh in the Physics exam for 9th graders that he participated in. At that time, the exam had a very difficult question, seemingly a question to classify students with outstanding talents. Therefore, many candidates had to "give up" with this question. However, Hoang Le Minh finished it quickly, becoming the candidate to leave the exam room earliest.

Seeing him confidently complete the exam in a short time, many parents were very concerned and asked. At this time, Minh confided that his father was a high school physics teacher. Once, when he looked at his father's 11th grade lesson plan, he saw some interesting questions and skimmed through the solutions. Coincidentally, during the gifted student exam, the most difficult Physics question of the 9th grade gifted student exam had many similarities with the Physics question in his father's 11th grade lesson plan that he had seen before. Therefore, Minh completed the exam easily. The score he received from the exam was almost perfect.

Hoang Le Minh (far left, first row) and his friends achieved high results in the recent provincial excellent student exam for grade 12. Photo provided by the character

However, Minh is not a person who relies on memory but knows how to apply memory to studying. He considers practicing exercises to be the most absolute way to memorize theory. Therefore, practicing questions is a method he uses every day to turn the knowledge of textbooks into his own knowledge.

Many people will be surprised to know that I usually only study until 11pm at night, and every afternoon I still participate in sports at school. Minh confided: “I think that we should not "rush" into studying right after finishing school hours. Students need to study but also need to rest. Because I see that health is a factor that directly affects the process of acquiring knowledge. Many people still mistakenly think that the more they study, the more knowledge they will acquire. However, studying will not yield any results when the body is in a state of fatigue and exhaustion."

To learn English well, Minh should consider it a habit rather than a subject. Not only improving foreign language skills at the desk, he also improves other skills by watching foreign movies or listening to English songs. Thanks to that, he can practice listening, speaking and develop vocabulary.

Sharing about his dream, Hoang Le Minh said that he wants to become an IT engineer. Because that is both his passion and the key for him to reach out to the outside world and realize the things he has cherished for so long./.