“I once ran out of the studio because I was scared.”
Dao Thi Quynh Trang (born 2007, Thai Nguyen) is a former English major student at Thai Nguyen High School for the Gifted. Quynh Trang won a full scholarship to study communications at the Budapest University of Economics and Business.
Choosing to study abroad was not in Quynh Trang's original plan. It all started when she was taking the Hung Vuong Summer Camp exam and coincidentally met a volunteer who introduced Trang to the Vietnam-Hungary Agreement scholarship.
From that conversation, the female student began her journey to prepare her application for a scholarship to study abroad.
Quynh Trang excellently won the full Vietnam - Hungary liberal arts scholarship (Photo: NVCC).
Quynh Trang shared that the most difficult thing for her was writing a “letter of motivation” to explain why she wanted to study in Hungary and prove herself as a worthy candidate. “Because I had no experience applying for scholarships, I didn’t know what to write. I revised it over and over again,” she shared.
Finally, the female student decided to write about her greatest motivation - the desire to "correct mistakes".
“When I was little, I signed up to be an MC for the Talent Kids program in Hanoi . When the director asked me to do it again, I was so scared, thinking I had done something wrong, I ran straight out of the studio, down to the first floor and then left. Thinking back now, I still regret it… If I had been braver that day, maybe I would be different today,” Trang confided.
From that experience, Quynh Trang promised herself that she would not let fear control her and lose the opportunity to express herself anymore.
For Trang, that memory was the motivation for her to step out of her comfort zone and challenge herself more. The female student admitted that in the interview, she was more confident and coherent when interviewing the two lecturers in person than when recording a video answering questions.
Besides, Trang chose the Communications major after witnessing her acquaintances fail in business due to lack of communication. “I realized that good ideas can also fail if not communicated properly. And I want to use my writing, communication and English skills to change that,” she said.
“It's not coffee, it's goals and motivation that keep us awake in all situations.”
Not only did she excel in getting a scholarship, Quynh Trang also had admirable academic achievements such as third prize in the national English competition for excellent students, 8.5 IELTS and many other provincial awards in both English and literature.
Before achieving encouraging results, Trang also experienced many feelings of inferiority and self-doubt.
The first time was when she participated in TNMUN (Thai Nguyen Model United Nations Conference). At that time, Trang was still shy, hesitant to speak, feeling "inferior" when participating in the council with younger friends but with sharp thinking and impressive knowledge of politics and society.
Since participating in TNMUN, she has had more motivation to create an environment where she can practice English more.
The second time was the journey to prepare for the national excellent student exam - the journey that left Trang with the most emotions.
“I was ranked 7th out of 8 people selected for the national team, so I always felt inferior,” Trang shared. “Two weeks before the exam, I could barely control my emotions, and cried in class.”
She is especially afraid of the speaking test because she often trembles, stutters and repeats words.
Luckily, during that period, Trang always received close support from her teachers. “The teacher did not require us to be good right away or to work hard to the point of exhaustion. She just needed us to maintain our spirit to continue studying. I am truly grateful for that,” Trang recalls.
It was the times she looked back at herself, set goals and persistently pursued them that helped her go far not only in her studies but also in her extracurricular activities later on.
“Actually…it all started with my idol's soccer match.”
Since middle school, Quynh Trang has idolized soccer player Kylian Mbappe. “I am so addicted to Mbappe that I once sat down to make nearly 1,000 slides about Mbappe.” The whole family even “braved the sun” at noon to take her to Hanoi to buy a book about this player.
At first, Trang loved Mbappe because he "carried the team" to bring the French team to the 2018 World Cup championship. Then, Trang asked herself the question: "If Mbappe's environment is football, what is the environment for me to shine?"
That question made Trang seriously look back at herself. In the second semester of 10th grade, she had intended to switch from English to Literature – a field that she felt closer to and more passionate about. But her Literature teacher advised Trang to continue pursuing English because it was a wide open path, and her passion for writing could still be maintained in parallel.
“At that time, she and I talked like two friends. She was the one who helped me stay on track,” Trang confided.
From then on, she focused on learning English and began to see clear changes. “But it all, actually... started from a soccer match with her idol,” she affirmed.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nu-sinh-85-ielts-gianh-hoc-bong-toan-phan-hungary-nho-la-thu-ve-bo-chay-20250724155941756.htm
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