Pham Duc Toan - New valedictorian of Foreign Trade University

(Baonghean) - Small in stature, with intelligent eyes hidden behind his glasses, Pham Duc Toan impressed many people as a lovable, gentle male student. Early in the afternoon of July 22, Toan unexpectedly received a phone call from Foreign Trade University informing him that he was valedictorian with a total score of 29.5 rounded up. Of which, Math scored 9.75, Physics 9.5, Chemistry 10. Toan was extremely surprised because he did not think he would be valedictorian. After checking the information again to be sure, Toan breathed a sigh of relief. At this time, Ms. Nguyen Thi Da, Toan's mother, who was tired and resting in the house, also jumped up, hugged her son, and cried with joy.

Pham Duc Toan in his study corner.

Pham Duc Toan was born into a family of teachers and his mother was retired. From a young age, Toan stood out as an intelligent, studious and excellent student. After completing the secondary school program at Nghi Duc Secondary School, Toan confidently took the entrance exam to Phan Boi Chau Specialized School. During his studies, although he did not have any outstanding achievements and was not allowed to participate in national and international exams, Toan had a very stable "performance", studied all subjects well and always got high scores because of his carefulness and meticulousness.

Notably, Toan rarely took extra classes outside, mostly following the curriculum of his teachers at school, actively practicing for exams while mastering the basic knowledge in textbooks. Toan said that in grade 11 and early grade 12, he took extra classes outside, but when he saw that the results were not high, he quit. "When I finished the A block exam, I thought I would get over 28 points and probably pass the foreign economics major at the Foreign Trade University, but I never dared to think that I would be the valedictorian of the school. It was such a happy and surprising result for me," Toan confided. The new valedictorian said that since entering high school, he had dreamed of becoming a successful businessman and economist and boldly registered for the foreign economics major. After completing the admission procedures, Toan said he would try his best to earn a scholarship to study abroad. In the recent university entrance exam, after completing block A well, Toan also took block B to enter the University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and scored 23 points.

Since early afternoon, Toan’s family home in Nghi Duc commune has been filled with joy. Toan’s phone has been constantly buzzing with well wishes from relatives and friends.

Teacher Ho Sy Hung, Toan's homeroom teacher, said he was not too surprised when he received the news that his student was the valedictorian because during his studies, Toan always demonstrated his ability with a calm, confident style of doing tests and always tried to achieve maximum scores. Toan is the type of student who is not too outstanding in any subject but always studies regularly and is in the top 5 in the class.

Nguyen Khoa