Candidates "picked up" for the team

At the national high school excellent student selection exam for the 2024-2025 school year, female student Duong Ngoc Yen Nhi (11th grade History student, Ha Tinh Specialized High School) scored 16,750 points. With this result, Yen Nhi is the only female student in Ha Tinh to win the first prize in the national excellent student exam in History.

"Duong Ngoc Yen Nhi was born into a family of working-class parents in Dai Nai ward, Ha Tinh city. Understanding the hardships of her parents, Yen Nhi always strives to excel in her studies. She won first prize in History at the national competition for excellent students, but few people know that Nhi was once a female student who was saved to join the national team," said Ms. Nguyen Thi Vu Ngoc, Yen Nhi's homeroom teacher.

Sharing about her young student, Nhi's homeroom teacher said that Nhi comes from a difficult family situation but she is a good, hard-working student with good self-study ability.

Yen Nhi is a student with a lower starting point than her seniors in grade 12 in History. At the provincial competition for excellent students, Nhi only won third place, while to be selected for the national team for excellent students, the selection process is very strict and usually, one must win second place or higher to be on the team.

"Sometimes, at a competition, her full ability was not fully assessed. During the teaching process, we discovered that Nhi had a special talent for History, so we proposed to the Department of Education and Training to add Nhi to the selection team. After joining the selection team and passing the ability assessment exams, the school will take the list of scores from top to bottom to select the best students, and Nhi was selected to the national excellent student competition team.

Nhi's efforts and breakthroughs did not disappoint the expectations and hopes of her and the school. At the exam, Yen Nhi was a student who took the exam at a higher level because she was only in grade 11, competing with her seniors in grade 12. Nhi excelled and won first prize, which made us very happy," Ms. Ngoc said emotionally.

Love History from the stories told by grandparents

Yen Nhi said she has a special passion and love for History. Her grandparents' stories about the country's history have awakened in her a passion and respect for the nation's glorious past.

"When I was young, sitting next to my grandparents in the evenings listening to their stories, I became more and more proud of and loved my homeland and country, and even more eager to learn and explore the historical treasures of the country and the world," Nhi said. Yen Nhi said that in grade 9, she won third prize in the Ha Tinh province's excellent student selection contest in History. This was the premise for her to strive to win a "ticket" to study at Ha Tinh Specialized High School.

During her studies at Ha Tinh High School for the Gifted, Yen Nhi said that she also encountered many difficulties because "the students at Ha Tinh High School for the Gifted are all excellent and hard-working. I was very lucky to be one of four 11th graders selected for the team to compete in the national excellent student competition. I was even happier when my efforts brought me first prize. I would like to thank my family and parents who have accompanied me and the teachers who have always taught and supplemented my knowledge so that I can be confident and achieve good results", said Yen Nhi.

Revealing the secret to winning first prize, Yen Nhi shared that during class time she always tries to remember the knowledge taught by the teacher.

"In the evening, I study from 7pm to 11pm. During this time, I study according to mind maps and keywords of each stage, while closely following the content and knowledge of textbooks. In addition, I learn more about historical events with the current social context to help me connect knowledge and remember longer. On weekends, I help my parents with housework and entertain myself by watching history reports on TV," Yen Nhi said.

According to female student Yen Nhi, this year's national excellent student exam in History is considered to be suitable, providing equal opportunities for all candidates. The highlight of the exam is its novelty, with many practical contents, suitable for the innovative program.

"My goal of joining the national excellent student team is to interact, to compete, to learn from the experiences of my seniors and friends, and to set myself the goal of trying to win a prize as a premise for the next competition. I thought I would win a consolation prize or third prize, but when I looked at my score, I couldn't believe my eyes, the joy was so unexpected," Duong Ngoc Yen Nhi shared more.