GNHD Experience

Dang Vu Minh – 10N2 Nguyen Tat Thanh high school, Hanoi, Vietnam 

Vietnamese students do not have opportunities to do research and learn many skills at schools. Students are confined in the classroom to learn from textbooks and take frequent exams during the year. So participating in GNHD gives me tremendous experiences and it opens a whole new world for me and I have learnt a lot and gain a lot of skills through this experience. This is the first time I know how to conduct a research, interviewing people, work as a team, write a report and prepare an exhibit. Normally, we do not have any opportunities to conduct any research during our study at school and so we were both busy with our homework and our final exams in late May at our schools, we did not have much time for our research until June. We have gone through great experience with full up and down moments which we will never forget. When we were preparing for the competition, we felt a bit stressed when we conduct literature review as there was little information available on the internet and at library. Collecting information, translating it into English and writing annotations is sometime daunting. However, going on field trips and interviewing people to collect our own data for our own research is actually exciting. We were inspired by conservationists and NGO staff that we met during our research. We were a bit nervous when we were getting very close to the competition but still have so much works to do. We were a bit nervous in the judging day and anxious while waiting for the result. Finally, our efforts have been paid off. We received our first ever gold medal and that moment was unable to describe. I’ve learned a lot through this competition and like the organizers kept reminding us: “Everybody is the winner”. We were very impressed with the work and exhibits from other teams from Hawaii, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand... And we have learned a lot from them our peers from their scientific methods to creative ways of presenting their work through their exhibits and presentations.

I would like to thank GNHD team for allowing me to participate in this special and wonderful opportunity. We have made a lot of new friends from many countries. We have had a great time of learning from each other, sharing our culture, playing together, and enjoy all of great moments in Shanghai. From bottom of my heart, I would like to thank Mr. Behring for your generous support for GNHD and for our participation. I am inspired by your work, philanthropy, and donations around the world for education and conservation. You have made this world become a better place for everyone, especially for young kids like me. I cannot thank you enough. I feel a lot more responsible to protect our environment and preserve the wildlife after participating GNHD. I hope I and many other Vietnamese students will have chance to continue to participate in GNHD in the future.