Every student who comes to Luong Van Can Fund carries multitudinous dreams. Because of certain circumstances, those dreams used to be shaken and changed. Here at the Fund, each dream is respected, cherished, and nurtured every single day. Students are encouraged to ‘dream big’. ‘Dream big’ doesn’t mean being excessively unrealistic, insteads, in each dream, students should not solely think of themselves but also aim to serve others, aim for community benefits. In this volume, let us follow a journey of overcoming barriers to pursue the dream of Nguyen Huu Thanh – medical student alumnus of Luong Van Can Fund, a tall man with his  cheerful smile.

Since high school, Thanh has always dreamed of studying abroad. It was simplybecause he had never been on a plane before and he wanted to know the curricula in other countries to find out “how they could gain such a greater abundance of international prizes”. He had always cherished and followed his dream even after he became a university student. Medical students are usually considered to be bookworms due to their  inactiveness and excessive studies but Thanh has completely negated the prejudices. Since his freshman year, Thanh had planned to make his “taking-off”  dreams come true by making attempts to gain a scholarship and participate in international competitions or student-exchange programs. Simultaneously, he took part in multiple extracurricular activities to accumulate skills and knowledge. Then, the opportunity finally came when his university held a contest to find candidates for the IMSPQ Physiology Competition in Indonesia. He took the chance, signed up for the competition, and went the extra mile to be one of three students on the selected team. Subsequently, his preparation process began. Not only did he stick to a tight study schedule, but Thanh also had to practice reading Medical documents in English. The excessive amount of new knowledge and vocabulary had caused him a lot of troubles.

On the departure day, Thanh said he was filled with both nervousness and excitement because it was time to reap the harvest of his one-year preparation, and also because it was his first-ever flight abroad. The first time travelling by plane to the “Land of thousand islands” made half of Thanh’s dream come true. However, he was not mentally prepared for another huge barrier called “language shock”. “During my exam’s revision, I found myself lacking English proficiency. My reading skills was quite good thanks to the high intensity of reading documents, while my listening and speaking skills were just average. During my stay in Indonesia, when talking with other foreign peers, I could not grasp a significant part of  what they were saying, thus I had to ask them to repeat many times. That embarrassing moment made me realize the huge gap between us and  decreased my confidence to start any conversation from then on”, Thanh shared.

The hardship of the first flight made Thanh realise that his English was not of a satisfactory standard. This is a huge barrier to his dream of traveling and learning from international friends, thus Thanh was determined to improve this weakness. At that time he received  Luong Van Can Scholarship and got the chance to participate in English classes held by the Fund’s educational partner. With great determination, Thanh became one of the most diligent students and made the most significant progress. “What I gained the most from those English classes are not vocabulary or grammar items, but my confidence. Returning from the program in Indonesia, I was so self-conscious about my ability to the point that I no longer dared to speak English again. The English classes at LVCF helped me have time to calm down, improve my basic knowledge and study with discipline. Thanks to that, I now dare to speak English again”, Thanh said.

Overcoming the obsession called “English”, Thanh proactively took the chance to take off when winning another scholarship for exchange students to visit the Faculty of Medicine, Mahidol University (Thailand). With his accumulation in English, he was no longer shy but took the initiative to discuss with everybody. Impressed with the advanced medical programs and the way Mahidol University provides favorable conditions for students to practise on systems paradigm similar to the hospital environment, he expressed: “We participate in the exchange program with a desire to broaden our horizon of knowledge, not to compete. Looking at their advanced learning programs, adequate facilities and fluent English speaking ability, I sincerely hope that our country might develop that way”.

In addition to the dream of studying abroad, now Thanh  initiated  one more dream: becoming a university lecturer. He hoped to contribute his knowledge and enthusiasm to build the curricula that were as advanced as those of countries he had been to. When Thanh was still “struggling” with the senior medical program and preparing for his college graduation exam, a new opportunity came: Vin University recruited first-year medical students and granted scholarships for talented ones. Following his friends’ advice, Thanh applied to Physiology major and passed the preliminary round despite the fact that  this major was still new in Vin Uni. In spite of being attracted to the boarding school program with high-quality school facilities as well as personnel, he still wondered if this major could be suitable for the development of Viet Nam. While he was hesitating, Miss Nguyen Ho Hong Hanh – his mentor, encouraged him to keep trying. “Miss Hanh plays a crucial role in shaping  my decision of applying for Vin Uni. She indicated to me that if I passed the application round, I would have one more choice after graduation. If I didn’t get through the application process, I would not  lose anything and still had other alternatives. She showed me there were a significant advantage of studying at Vin Uni: the advanced curricula, modern facilities, knowledgeable lecturers and  international integration. Moreover,  Vin Uni also offers many teaching positions for its students after their graduation. This brings Thanh closer to his dream. The only barrier is  that no one can assess its output in Viet Nam as it is too new. Being persuaded by the mentor, I enrolled in Vin Uni. Without her advice, I could have given up. My original plan was to take a boarding exam in my current school since it was familiar to me. Not only has it got a long-standing curriculum, but it was also a place where I maintained a great deal of relationships. But after some international exchanges, I found myself more open-minded and allowed myself to take a little risk, not limiting myself in my comfort zone anymore.”