VietNamNet Bridge – Vo Van Huy, a cowboy in Tay Hoa District of Phu Yen province, is leaving his home village in mid-September for Paris, where he will study at the Polytechnic University of Paris with an Eiffel scholarship granted by the French government.

Vo Van Huy.

Some days ago, Huy had to write a letter of apology to the Singaporean National University, refusing the opportunity to study at the school with the ASEAN scholarship granted by the Singaporean government.

Huy will start school in France as Do Van Huy, a student from Vietnam. However, in his home village, he is called “cowboy”, because he spends more time tending oxen on fields than studying at home.

Though having not much time to study, Huy was always an excellent student at general school.

Huy was one of the top five scorers at the entrance exam to the Luong Van Chanh High School for the Gifted.

However, he could not study at the school, because he later decided to go to the Le Hong Phong School near his house, so as to be more easily take care of his family and handicapped sister.

Huy was the main bread-earner in the family. While his father worked as bricklayer and was usually away from home, Huy had to take a lot of work, from shuttling the sister to school to grazing oxen to helping the mother peel cashew nuts to earn money.

The time Huy spent on learning was from 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm every day, when he grazed oxen on the fields.

In 2012, after winning the bronze medal at the International Math Olympiad, Huy won admission to Foreign Trade University and HCM City Medical University.

Huy chose the medical school as advised by his father. However, after three months at the school, Huy decided to leave because he realized that this was not what he dreamed to do.

Huy decided to sit the entrance exam to the HCM City University of Technology one year later, just two weeks before the exam began, and became the top scorer at the exam with 29/30 marks for three exam subjects.

After spending two years at the school, Huy unexpectedly won the French and Singaporean governments’ scholarships to study at two famous schools in the world.

Deciding to leave the HCM City University of Technology, Huy does not think his two years spent at the school were useless.

“To prepare for the study at the Polytechnic University of Paris, French students have to spend two years in preparatory class, while students from other countries are required to experience two years at other technical schools,” he explained.

When asked if Huy would return to Vietnam after finishing school or he would settle down in France, Huy said he will come home.

“I will stay in France for several years after I finish school, but after that I will return to Vietnam,” he promised.

“I went to the HCM City Medical University and HCM City University of Technology with money from donors. They gave me a hand when I attended the International Olympiad and at many difficult moments in my life. I cannot betray them,” he explained.

Thanh Mai