Excellent Young Face of the year 2005: From low marks to … International Gold Medal

When I went to meet Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung at University, I was impressed by her childlike style. Wearing a white shirt and blue trousers of unequal lengths, this young girl has achieved more than most people may think…

The 26^th of March 2006 was an unforgettable day for Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung – a student of the gifted-student class in physics – Course K9 – at the University of Natural Sciences (under Hanoi National University). o­n that day, Dung had two items of good news: the first was that she was the o­nly girl among the 10 Excellent Vietnamese Young Face and the other was she awarded“the Vietnam First Student ” Award

However, her success today started by chance. She said, “ At secondary school I liked mathematics. However in grade 9 I was selected to join a contest for talented pupils of both mathematics and physics. I scored higherin physics. Since then I pursued with physics. By that time, I just wanted to study well, but didn’t think of participating in national or international contests”. During the 3 years studying at the High School for gifted students at Vinh Phuc, Dung received the “Provincial Excellent Student Award” and the 2^nd Prize in Physics held by the Youth’s Mathematics Newspaper. Twice she also came 2^nd in the National Physics Contest which helped her be selected into the tentative team for international physics competition.

Dung said, “At high school, I was mainly taught about the theories but had very little practical experience. During the final round to choose 5 official candidates for the contest, I got a mark of 1 for practice, while the other candidates in Hanoi got marks of 8 or 9. In spite of this low practical mark, Dung was still selected as part of the team for the Asia Olympic Contest in Physics because of her high theoretical mark. o­ne week before the contest, she undertook intense physical practice and training. However , this o­ne week was not enough for her to absorb all the practical knowledge she needed to keep up with her teammates. Consequently, she did not receive aprize at that contest except for accertificate of appreciation by the Steering Committee.

“Failure is the mother of success”, Dung said, determined to brush up o­n her knowledge in preparation for the international Physic Olympic Contest in Spain. Learning from the previous contest, Dung was self-confident enough to take the practical test. Beyond her expectations, Dung brought glory to Vietnam by obtaining the highest mark among her teammates, of which her practical mark was 17.3/20 and theoretical mark was 28.3/30. o­n passing all the candidates from 80 countries around the world, Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung became “the o­nly golden girl” in the International Physical Olympic Contest.

“When the examiner announced the result, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I was so happy!” Dung recalled. Dung said she used to have a “crisis” because she just studied and studied. However, that period has passed. She now has a normal life with delight smiles and an active body. Dung now realizes that proper time arrangement between study and relaxation is very important, helping enhance work effectiveness.