The 2018 “Hoa Trang Nguyen” Awards, the Commencement, and the 2018 – 2019 Academic Year Opening Ceremonies at Tan Tao University

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On October 7th, Tan Tao University (TTU) hosted the “Hoa Trang Nguyen (HTN) Awards 2018, combining the Graduation Ceremony and the Opening Ceremony in the academic year of 2018 – 2019.

The HTN Awards ceremony, as usual, was held at TTU and in Ha Noi to honor the 310 HTN awardees across the country. On the first night, October 6, 2018, the HTN awardees were warmly welcomed and had great fun together with all the students of Tan Tao High School (TTS) and TTU on the Gala Night at the Canary Club Conference Center. Regarding the awards granted in north Vietnam, the ceremony took place in the afternoon of October 20 in Hanoi.

A series of ceremonies were opened by a traditional dance “Hao Khi Viet Nam”.

HTN is an annual event sponsored by Mrs. Dang Thi Hoang Yen, President of Tan Tao Group, and the event was held for the first time in 2008. For the past eleven years, HTN has been supported and cooperated by the Ministry of Education and Training, the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Youth League, the Vietnam Association for Promoting Education, the Association of Universities and Colleges, and the Vietnam National University. Until now, the HTN has honored more than 10,000 excellent students with a total value of 30 billion VND.

Prof. Thach Nguyen (left), the Acting Provost of TTU rewarded the HTN awardees.

The HTN officially turned 11 years old this year, which is also a good time to look back at what the award has achieved, and look forward to how it will continue the mission of promoting the Vietnamese youth’s creativity and confidence in the future. Specially, the HTN Organization Board would like to inform that the HTN awardees will receive full scholarships if they enroll at TTU and meet the school’s entrance requirements.

Looking back over the past eleven years, many HTN awardees have now grown to be the pride of the families, the society and the country, deserved to be given the title ” Talents of Vietnam “. Typically, Pham Hoang Man, a HTN awardee in 2011, a former TTU student, is honored to be one of representatives from Vietnam to win the Young South East Asian Leaders (YSEALI) scholarship founded by former US President Barack Obama. Another outstanding former HTN awardees include Nguyen Hoai Dam, HTN 2008, a talented editor of Vietnam Television, Dang Thuy Duong, HTN 2010, currently a specialist in Google project in Malaysia, and Pham Duc Anh, HTN 2018, who twice won gold medal International Chemistry Olympia in 2017 and 2018, being one of two students to be given the third Labor Medal by the President of Vietnam.

After the HTN ceremony, the Commencement Exercise at TTU took place successfully with the presence of many TTU founders, all TTU deans, and especially the presence of former US Ambassador, Michael Michalak, member of the TTU Board of Trustees. Six new graduates included two students from the School of Language and Humanities, and four from the School of Business and Economics. They all are talented and dynamic students. In order to graduate, they had to get an IELTS band 7.0, TOEIC 800 or higher or any other equivalent test scores, and they must actively take part in multiple international as well as academic activities at TTU and outside of TTU campus.

(Left to right) Prof. Thach Nguyen (current Acting Provost), Prof. Ph D Vo Tong Xuan (former Provost), Dr. Tran Duong (current Vice-Provost), Dr.Tran Xuan Thao (former Vice Provost)

The most noticeable point in the graduation ceremony was an emotional speech delivered by Le Thi Xuan Mai from School of Humanities and Languages, who received the 2017 YSEALI scholarship founded by former President Barack Obama to have a five-week field trip to the United States.

Le Thi Xuan Mai represented the graduates to give a speech.
Professors and 6 graduates had a photo together.

After the graduation speech was the Opening Ceremony of the academic year of 2018 – 2019. It was a combined opening ceremony of both TTU and Tan Tao High School for the Gifted (TTS). It was held in a warm atmosphere with the presence of all delegates, faculty, staff and students.

The warm atmosphere of the ceremonies at Canary Club

A series of ceremonies eventually concluded with promises of greater commitment in the new school year, still echoing in the mind of all TTU and TTS students. The ceremony can be considered a significantly memorable experience for all students at TTS and TTU when they look back on their school life.