Valedictorians overcome difficulties at special schools in Nghe An

Orphaned male student is valedictorian of Biology

3 years ago, Tran Hoang Anh Tu (class 12A1, First Prize, Valedictorian in Biology) moved from Dien Chau to study at Hermann Gmeiner High School (Vinh City) on a scholarship for poor students overcoming difficulties. The 15-year-old boy lost his father at a young age, living with his grandmother who is over 70 years old; his younger brother lives with his grandparents. His mother, due to the burden of the family, has been working abroad for many years. Since his mother went to work far away, the number of times Tu has seen her can be counted on the fingers of one hand. To save on travel expenses, Tu and his mother only see each other once every few years.

Because of his difficult circumstances and his understanding of his family's situation, Tu had a sense of independence early on. He was intelligent and talented, so in his junior high school years he was an excellent student at the district level in Biology. In 10th grade, although he had quite good abilities in natural sciences and was selected by many teachers to be in the excellent student team, Tu was determined to pursue Biology because he knew this was the subject he had the best foundation for. Moreover, in his memory, his father died at a very young age due to a serious illness, so Tu nurtured the dream of becoming a doctor, and later on, treating many people in difficult circumstances.

During the learning process, due to special conditions, Tu and many other students at SOS Children's Villages do not seem to attend extra classes much and mainly only study with teachers at school.

Therefore, Tu's secret to studying well is very simple: Biology is the subject he has the best foundation in. However, he is not subjective and always determines that to study well, he must have a firm grasp of the knowledge in the textbooks. He does not just study one book but also reads all the textbooks from many different publishers, learning and understanding every word.

"Besides, I also diligently do and practice tests. If there are problems I don't understand, I don't hesitate to ask my friends, teachers, and learn more online. I also study other subjects in a similar way, the core is still to have a firm grasp of basic knowledge and be diligent," Tu said.

To reach the first prize at the Provincial Excellent Student Competition for Grade 12 and win the valedictorian position, Tu shared many unforgettable memories, especially when he won convincingly with 18.38 points. This is also the highest score that Tu has achieved after more than 3 years of persistent training in the team.

Father is a construction worker, mother is a farmer to raise her son to be the valedictorian.

Nguyen Viet Quang (student of class 12A6) is the student who brought home the first prize, the valedictorian of History for Hermann Gmeiner High School in this year's exam season with 15.88 points.

Quang grew up in Thanh Tung commune, Thanh Chuong district and is the eldest of four siblings. After finishing junior high school, Quang had the opportunity to enter a public school near his home. However, because his mother stayed at home to farm and his father worked as a construction worker with a hard-earned income, Quang decided to go to Hermann Gmeiner High School in 10th grade because tuition, food, accommodation, and living expenses were exempted.

Talking about Quang, teacher Nguyen Thi Yen said: Quang has a talent for social subjects. Especially with History, I see Quang listens very attentively. After class, he often comes up to the teacher to ask questions he doesn't understand or isn't clear about. Seeing Quang's love for history, I encouraged him to join the team because to study well, to be good at studying, first of all, you need to have passion.

Choosing history and having to compete with many other students who were “better than me”, Quang admitted that he felt a lot of pressure. To shorten the gap, he was determined to focus on studying and only spent about 3-4 hours sleeping each day. In addition to studying and mastering the knowledge in class, Quang found many books to read, trying to expand and relate historical events to reality.

The new valedictorian of this year's Provincial Excellent Student Exam said: "To study History well, diligence is not enough. In addition, you must have a mindset, be systematic, and study to understand, not simply memorize, one-way."

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Over the years, SOS Children's Village has always created conditions for the children in the village to study and live as if they were in their own families, and the children have not disappointed expectations to bring back outstanding achievements. Their success is the motivation for other students of the Village to strive to improve. This also recognizes the care, nurturing, and attention of mothers, aunts, uncles, and teachers at school. More importantly, this result has demonstrated the success of the model for children to develop comprehensively.

Mr. Le Ba Luong - Director of SOS Children's Villages