Even though she is in her second year of university, Luu Anh Thu - a student at Hanoi Law University - still clearly remembers the training sessions for the excellent student team that lasted until noon or late at night.
"The days of studying with my teacher and friends are the most meaningful memories of my student life. I am extremely grateful for the teachings and inspiration from my teacher because thanks to that, I was able to realize my dream of winning the national excellent student award and getting into my favorite university" - Anh Thu said.
The person Anh Thu mentioned is Ms. Tran Thi Hiep - History teacher at Nguyen Du High School for the Gifted (Dak Lak).
Ms. Hiep is also a former student of the school and won third prize in History in the national excellent student exam. In college, she chose the teacher training college. And in 2008, after graduating, Ms. Hiep returned to teach at her high school.
Since then, Ms. Hiep has led many History courses, participated in training school and provincial teams to compete in excellent student competitions at all levels and achieve high results, especially in the national excellent student competition.
With more than 15 years of experience in teaching and nurturing gifted students, Ms. Hiep believes that this is a difficult and arduous job with great responsibilities.
The most basic difficulty is that teachers must always change and supplement the teaching materials system through consulting and synthesizing knowledge from many different books and documents, even through classes with leading experts... to meet the difficulty and continuous changes in knowledge, skills, and requirements of excellent student exams.
"Spreading documents all over the house, staying up until 12am and 1am to prepare and grade papers has become a daily routine," Ms. Hiep said.
She shared that every time she receives a new class of students and accompanies them throughout their 3 years of study, she always feels nervous, excited, and full of expectations.
“When you are happy, I am happy. When you are sad, I am sad. And when you are discouraged, I am not allowed to be discouraged. The journey to prepare for the national excellent student exam is a tough race, full of challenges. It is easy for students to feel pressured, discouraged, and give up. At times like that, I have to encourage, motivate, and support them,” said Ms. Hiep.
She confided that with each exam, the most mixed emotions are when the results are known. Besides bursting with happiness at the achievements of the students, what Ms. Hiep cares about most is those who unfortunately do not achieve the expected results.
“I always believe that when competing for excellent students, the most valuable and important thing is the journey that students go through to overcome countless difficulties and challenges. They dare to pursue their passion and strive to improve themselves, becoming more mature every day.
The excellent student award is just a part of life, one of many peaks waiting for you to conquer. I always want you to think positively like that" - Ms. Hiep said.
Many of Ms. Hiep’s students study far from home and are in difficult circumstances. Therefore, in addition to being a knowledge imparter, Ms. Hiep is also a companion, taking care of every meal and sleep so that the students can confidently pursue and conquer their dreams.
Despite the hardships and the heavy workload, Ms. Hiep still keeps her passion for her job. For her, the students' efforts are the strongest motivation to help her overcome all difficulties and challenges.
"As long as I see my students studying hard and determined to pursue their passion, I will continue to try and make every effort," she affirmed.
At nearly 40 years old, Ms. Hiep is still single. She considers this an advantage for herself to continue her career. In the future, her wish is to have more students who love national history. At the same time, she hopes that the subject will receive more support from social forces, especially the support of parents when their children are passionate and determined to pursue it.
