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FEATURE STORY

I'd Like You To Know: Huyen Cao's Story

October 20, 2015

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For Huyen, getting accepted to college has taken her one step closer to her dream of becoming a teacher. Now in her freshman year at Hung Vuong University in Phu Tho Province (about 80 kilometers from Hanoi), Huyen is majoring in teaching English as a second language. But her dream would not have come true if she had dropped out of school three years earlier, when school became unaffordable for her and her family. Her parents divorced when she was six and she has lived with her mother since. Her mother, Nguyen Thi Trang, 52, is a worker in the Thuy Van Industrial Zone located seven kilometers away from their house. She earns VND 2 million ($100) per month. For Huyen, the grant of $90 dollars a year was more than just a much-needed financial lifeline.

I am the only child in the family. Since I was younger I have always dreamed of becoming a teacher. I want to be a teacher of English.

After finishing secondary school, I didn’t pass the exam to enter public high school. I thought about getting a job, because I thought I couldn’t go to private school. It was partly because I felt discouraged, but primarily because we could not afford it.

There are many things that helped my dream come true. My parents have encouraged me a lot and the scholarship I received helped me continue my education. Without the scholarship, my family would never have been able to afford the school fee.

The scholarship was very important to me. It was both a spiritual and material gift that gave me more energy and provided necessary conditions so that I could continue studying. It was not just important to me, but to all other poor students.

My advice to my friends would be that they should never give up. They should keep trying to achieve their dreams, however
difficult it seems. Study hard and work hard.

If I didn’t have this opportunity, I know I would have gone a different path. I cannot imagine how my life would have turned out.

 


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Hopes for the Future

My biggest challenge right now is the difficult situation of my family, because there are many things that we have to pay for when I study at the university. Another challenge is my capability—but I will make my best effort. To overcome these challenges I study hard and help my parents at home. We have a piece of land and I help my mother by working in the fields.My hope over the next few years is to do a very good thesis so that I can get a job as an English teacher when I graduate. I think that today English is a very popular language.



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