"Study hard to avoid being looked down upon" Nguyen Minh The was born in 2005, from Hong Dan district, Bac Lieu province. Both of his parents dropped out of school early and made a living by selling lottery tickets. When The was in 6th grade, his father fell ill and passed away. The burden of making a living fell on his sick mother. Every day, The's mother went out to sell lottery tickets from 4am. The and his brother also went out to sell lottery tickets with their mother for half a day. Their mother did not let them drop out of school because "because they were poor and had little education, they were looked down upon by others". "My mother told me to try to study hard. She would take care of everything I learned. Try to study hard so that people would respect me", The said. Pursuing education with that simple goal, The and his brother both studied well. Every day, The studied half a day, and the other half he cycled 7-8km to sell lottery tickets, bringing his mother 40-50,000 VND. On weekends, The sells lottery tickets from early morning to late afternoon, earning 110,000 VND. The's study time is from 8pm to 1-2am. The more he studies, the more he finds new goals. He no longer studies just to "make people respect him", but because he loves studying and has a dream of becoming a pilot.

Nguyen Minh The at the 2024 Valedictorian Scholarship Award Ceremony (Photo: Provided by the character).

The fact that her brother was admitted to Can Tho University made The even more determined. During her high school years, The studied all night until 3-4am every day. In addition, she still had to sell lottery tickets to gradually save up for 4 years of university. As a result, The had 3 years of high school with excellent grades and was on the provincial excellent student team. In grade 11, The achieved the title of 3 good students of Bac Lieu province. However, The had to put aside her dream of becoming a pilot when she learned about the tuition fees only for well-off families. In the 2023 high school graduation exam, The scored 25.75 points in block D01 (math, literature, English). The dream of becoming a pilot could be temporarily put aside, but the dream of the sky was still intact in The. She decided to apply to the flight operations management major at the Aviation Academy without thinking that she would be the valedictorian of this major. Half a day selling bread, half a day going to class The day he entered the Aviation Academy, The's mother borrowed 14 million VND from a policy bank to pay for his first semester tuition. The had a little money saved for food and living expenses in the first month. To cover the following months, The wandered the streets of Saigon looking for extra work. Luckily, the 2005-born boy found a cheap bakery in District 3 that needed sales staff. He started working the second week he arrived in Saigon. Four days a week, The sells bread for hire from 6am to 10:30am. Taking off his apron, The puts on his backpack and jogs to school. After more than 4 hours of work, he is paid 100,000 VND, just enough to cover food and rent. In the evening, in a 20m2 rented room with 5 people, The studies late at night as he has been used to since he was a child. I spent about an hour just learning English on free channels, determined to improve my listening and speaking skills that I didn't have the opportunity to practice when I was in Bac Lieu.

Nguyen Minh The in a class at the Aviation Academy (Photo: NVCC).

"In my hometown, there was no movement to learn English, so no one showed me free learning resources online. When I came to Saigon, I realized that I could learn English well without spending money, so I took advantage of all my free time to study," The shared. Determining that the field of air traffic management is difficult and there are not many job positions, The outlined a goal for which stage he needs to learn what additional skills so that he can apply for a job without being rejected. Meanwhile, The still has to maintain his job selling bread to earn money for his studies. The's current dream is to work at Long Thanh airport, Dong Nai. The orphaned boy who sold lottery tickets throughout his childhood has no distant aspirations other than having a good job, taking care of his mother and taking her on vacations. Recently, Nguyen Minh The was one of 120 valedictorians and salutatorians nationwide to receive the "Strengthening Valedictorians" scholarship from the Vietnam Young Talent Support Fund.