At the age of six, Nguyen Thuy Ngan went from Dong Anh suburb district to a school in the inner city of Hanoi. She was bullied by friends because of her lisp and her dark skin which ‘did not resemble anyone’.

Ngan finishes Macalester College

When she was a secondary school student, her diary about a classmate she liked was found by the teacher who gave it to her parents. This made her feel hurt.

At the age of 12, Ngan had her hair cut short, wore tomboy clothes, played hooky, and went to internet shops, looking for internet friends to chat with.

However, she later realized that she had changed in a way that she did not want. One day, after watching ‘How I met your mother’ film series, she began drawing up a plan to study abroad.

Successfully enrolling in Macalester College with full scholarship and studying in a school with diverse cultures, races, and colors, Ngan believes that there was no limit on what she could become.

“I have a friend who is among the fastest rubik cube rotators in the world. He can rotate rubik and dance hiphop at the same time. He can also make films. And I realized that I shouldn't limit myself to a sealed box because there are so many things I can do,” she said.

I realized that I shouldn't limit myself to a sealed box because there are so many things I can do" Nguyen Thuy Ngan

Ngan once heard about the scholarship fund of Kathryn Wasserman Davis offered to students’ community projects and applied. The technology project implemented at the orphan center in Vinh Phuc province helped Ngan win the scholarship worth $10,000.

When she was a second-year university student, Ngan became a volunteer at an organization that helps migrant women and children in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She found a problem in the migrant families – parents and children did not have connections, especially in education planning.

Ngan’s findings persuaded the Philips fund established by Jay Philips to grant $16,000 to try methods to solve the problem.

In 2015, Ngan created activities to help parents better understand the way of learning of their children, and help children escape feelings of inferiority about their immigration background and cultural barriers.

Dare to say ‘yes’

After the project finished, Ngan participated in many other community projects. Before graduation from Macalester, she heard about Watson Fellowship established by Thomas Watson family aiming to help young excellent leaders with ambition.

Ngan is one of two Vietnamese receiving the scholarship since the fund was established. At the same time, she received attractive invitations if she stayed in the US. However, she finally decided to begin a trip around the world under the scholarship.

She learned a lot of things from the trip. In the UK, the first destination in her trip, Ngan found automatic coffee vending sold by homeless people. She was also impressed by the ‘public fridges’ at corners of streets, where the homeless or low income earners can get food for free, and the ‘household-use library’ model which allows people to borrow tools at a very low cost.

Within one year, Ngan went to seven countries on different continents, including the UK, Rwanda, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Singapore and Chile. Instead of staying in hotels, she lived in peoples’ houses to see real life.

Living with 50 families, connecting 300 social entrepreneurs, and visiting one continent every three months took up her time during the one-year trip.

Ngan said Rwanda left the biggest impression on her during the trip.

“This is a small country which is just a dot on the world map. But people there are very proud of their nation. It is also a country with strong entrepreneurial development,” she said.

In Rwanda, Ngan worked as a teaching assistant at a university with the desire to access their college curriculum which was strong in entrepreneurship.

After the trip, Ngan took some short journeys before returning to Vietnam.

Now she is the Asia Pacific manager of Angel Hack, a series of global software development competitions. While her parents want her to lead a stable life, Ngan has chosen a ‘life with some uncertainties’.

She believes that when people dare to say ‘yes’, opportunities will come to them, no matter how many difficulties they face. 

Le Huyen

Young teacher devoted to supporting disadvantaged students

Many students in Din Chin – one of the poorest, most remote communes in Muong Khuong District, consider teacher Lo Thi Lan a second mother thanks to her dedication.

Student who twice won international gold medals learns from 'failure'

Winning the gold medal at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) for the second time, Bui Hong Duc says he does not intend to study abroad, but will enroll at a university in Vietnam.