Respect every idea

After more than 5 months of competition with 3 intense rounds, the “Green Voice” debate competition has officially found its champion. Although it has ended, for many participants, the echoes of the competition are still clear with the participation of 1,700 contestants from 455 high schools from 59 provinces and cities across the country with bold and unique ideas to compete.

Ideas include using coffee grounds and mushrooms to synthesize a new material to replace leather in car interior production; turning straw into disposable plates or making environmentally friendly paper and packaging; green mobile clinic models; green offices, green classrooms, green schools, etc.

For many contestants, “Green Voice” is a place for everyone to express green ideas, thereby joining hands to spread a green lifestyle.

Mam Choi La Team (Luong Van Chanh High School for the Gifted, Phu Yen) shared their joy with homeroom teacher Vu Mai Vy when they were awarded second prize in the Vietnamese category of the Green Voice contest.

Le Dinh Bao Ngoc, a student at Luong Van Chanh High School for the Gifted, Phu Yen Province, a member of the Mam Choi La team, said that when he took a plane from Phu Yen to Ho Chi Minh City, looking down from above at the city, he only saw concrete roofs. He had the idea of ​​greening the roofs of urban areas and the Green Voice contest was an opportunity for him to realize his idea.

“This is the first time I have participated in a debate and eloquence competition. I decided to participate because I know that this is a fairly open competition, promoting students' ideas and spirit, not focusing on winning or losing. There are teams that stop in the quarterfinals and semi-finals, but the organizers still respect the ideas and want to develop the contestants' ideas through side activities, and still encourage them to continue developing these projects in the future,” Bao Ngoc shared.

In addition, after 5 months of participation, Bao Ngoc said that what impressed her was that the competition was professionally organized with a professional council of world-famous experts, professors, and scholars, especially the organizing committee highly valued the students' ideas.

For Do Phuc Nhat Minh, a Vinschool student and member of the Nam Cao team, the Green Voice contest has extended Vingroup's series of meaningful and successful activities in environmental protection, moving towards a green lifestyle.

“The contest has spread a lot of energy about environmental protection to the young generation. I hope that the contest will continue to be held in the following years so that the young generation can contribute many ideas, continue to spread the green lifestyle, so that everyone knows how to love each tree, helping the living environment to be better, the earth to be greener,” said Nhat Minh.

The excellent Nam Cao team won first prize in the Vietnamese category with their idea of ​​a new, more environmentally friendly material.

As a member of the jury, Associate Professor, Dr. Ho Thi Thanh Van, Director of the Institute for Advanced Agricultural Biology Research and Development, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, said she was very surprised because the students were very young, some were only in grade 10, but had shown their enthusiasm and knowledge about environmental issues.

“The contest is very meaningful, has a generational vision and is rich in human values. We sow green awareness to have green actions and green products. I hope the contest message continues to spread and inspire students so that next year's contests will be larger in scale and with younger age groups,” said Associate Professor Ho Thi Thanh Van.

Having coached many major debate and eloquence competitions around the world, Dr. Brian Wong, Assistant Professor at the Department of Philosophy, University of Hong Kong (China), and a judge of the competition, commented that Green Voices is one of the most impactful and engaging competitions. “The outstanding ideas are a testament to the enthusiasm of young people, showing their sense of responsibility and commitment to building a better world for everyone around the world,” said Dr. Brian Wong.

Dr. Brian Wong and the Jury members were delighted with the convincing victory of the competing teams.

Practice skills, open knowledge

Changes in awareness and growth in skills are what the contestants received after 5 months of participating in the competition.

Bursting with emotion when she and her teammates won the championship, Nguyen Tran Minh Khue (LifeSphere team) said that the competition helped her gain many valuable new skills and lessons.

“I have participated in many excellent student competitions, but this is the first time I have participated in a debate or eloquence competition. I have never studied eloquence before, so the competition is truly a new horizon of knowledge,” Minh Khue shared.

According to the female student of Chu Van An High School, after the competition, Khue learned how to work in a group, how to be more open, improved her information searching skills, presentation skills as well as how to respond to get the best answers. With many connecting activities of the organizing committee, Khue also had the opportunity to meet many new friends, creating a close-knit community.

In particular, with the first prize of the contest, Minh Khue will receive a full scholarship to VinUni University. “This is truly like a dream,” Minh Khue excitedly said.

The Lifesphere team contestants said that receiving a full scholarship to study at VinUni University is a dream come true.

For Do Phuc Nhat Minh (team Nam Cao), in addition to the prize, the first value Minh received from the competition was experience and public speaking skills. Second was the knowledge acquired over the course of 5 months, from simple things like knowing that methane gas is much more toxic than CO2 gas... Third was teamwork skills, from the initial problems due to different opinions, Minh learned how to listen and respect the opinions of others to work towards a common goal, learned how to adapt to the situation when in the final stage of the competition, Minh was in Vietnam but his teammates were in the US, 12 time zones apart.

“These are essential skills for life, not just in competitions,” Nhat Minh shared.

Accompanying the contestants for 5 months, Dr. Le Thai Ha, Executive Director of the Green Future Fund, shared: “I am extremely proud to witness the maturity of not only the students, but also of our organizing committee when learning from them, seeing the world - with many challenges but also with much hope - through the lens of young people, who hold the future and destiny of our planet”.

Looking back on the past journey, according to Dr. Le Thai Ha, the contest is a living testament to the power of the spirit spreading throughout Vietnam towards a common dream - a green and sustainable future for everyone.

Vingroup launches the "Green Voice" debate contest The Green Future Fund under the Thien Tam Fund - Vingroup Corporation has just officially launched the "Green Voice" debate contest for high school students nationwide. The contest aims to create a Green mindset - Green lifestyle for future citizens of the country, thereby promoting Green actions to become a reality in life. The total prize value of the contest is up to more than 18.5 billion VND.

“Green Consumption” - The most popular topic at the “Green Voice” contest Of the 122 entries that made it to the “Green Voice” competition, the topics that most interested contestants were: Green consumption (23%), Green education (17.3%), Green environment (13.1%) and Green tourism (11.5%). The numbers show the top concerns of young people, and promise to bring breakthrough ideas, contributing to solving today’s most pressing environmental challenges.