Overcoming challenges
Due to her poor family circumstances, during her 4 years of university, Cao Thao Quyen's parents had to borrow student loans to pay for tuition, and even after graduating, they still owed money. Therefore, as soon as she graduated from the Chemistry Department of the University of Natural Sciences - VNU-HCM, Quyen quickly found a job to earn money to help her parents pay off the debt and support her younger siblings' education.
Cao Thao Quyen in the lab full of memories with her |
Quyen had been working for more than a month when she heard that Professor Min Byung Sun from Daegu Catholic University, South Korea, was coming to Vietnam to recruit scholarships for Vietnamese students studying abroad. Quyen applied and was surprised to be accepted. “At that time, I had mixed emotions, less happy and more worried, because I was afraid that if I went to school, my parents would be burdened with debt and hardship,” Quyen shared. After much hesitation, with the encouragement of teachers and friends, Quyen decided to study abroad at Daegu Catholic University. However, due to visa problems, the new class in Korea had been going on for more than a month but she still could not go.
Professor Min Byung Sun intended to cancel the results and not accept Quyen to study anymore, because this delay was afraid that she would not be able to keep up with the class. With 2 days left for the midterm exam, Quyen flew to enroll. Wet behind, not having time to get used to the new environment, she threw herself into studying day and night, with stacks of review outlines, and crash courses. To keep up with her classmates, in addition to studying at school, she proactively went to the library to study, went online to read more documents, and went to the lab to do research.
“Youth only comes once, each young person should live life to the fullest, try their best and you will reap the sweet rewards. The important thing is not to give up.”
Cao Thao Quyen - Professor, Institute of Special Food Technology, Kyungpook National University
Thanks to that tireless effort, the little girl from Vietnam Cao Thao Quyen surprised her friends and teachers when she quickly caught up with the knowledge and got good scores in all subjects. And after 1.5 years, Quyen had her first research article published in the prestigious international journal SCI, with a high ranking. That result was exchanged for days of staying in the lab, even sleeping overnight.
Quyen pursued research in the field of finding organic compounds from medicinal herbs and testing them on cells to find out whether their biological activity can cure diseases or is toxic to normal cells. Her research required experimenting in both chemistry and biology, while her supervisor only had medicinal herbs and no expertise in biology. No one in the lab had ever researched in this direction.
Cao Thao Quyen (2nd from right) with colleagues in Korea |
Once again, Cao Thao Quyen had to overcome herself, study and research on her own. There were experiments that took 8-10 hours but still did not produce results, they failed and had to be redone. There were experiments that had to be redone day and night. “Many days, I was so stressed and tired that I cycled home from school and cried like crazy. After crying, I wiped my tears and threw myself into studying. I never once thought of giving up, nor did I complain to anyone, but always told myself to keep trying,” Quyen shared.
Cold to save
In winter in Korea, the temperature exceeds minus degrees Celsius, it is freezing cold but Quyen does not dare to turn on the heater, because she is afraid of wasting electricity. One time, the landlord came to fix something broken in her room, he was shocked and exclaimed why it was so cold. From then on, almost every day the landlord knocked on Quyen's door to remind her to turn on the heater to protect her health. Quyen saves money to send home to support her parents to raise her younger siblings and is willing to support other students.
Starting late, but with a journey of relentless efforts in the land of kimchi, Cao Thao Quyen has affirmed her Vietnamese intelligence and mettle by owning dozens of scientific articles published in prestigious international journals on pharmacy. In 2019, Quyen graduated with a PhD in Pharmacy in Korea, at the age of 28, and became a research professor at the age of 32. Currently, Quyen is a research professor at the Institute of Special Food Technology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu City, Korea. This is one of the most prestigious and reputable schools in Korea.
Support and inspire poor students
Despite being busy with her professional work, Thao Quyen always turns to her homeland with activities to accompany and support students. Currently, Quyen also takes on the role of Chairman of the Executive Board of the Korea Companion Scholarship Fund. This is a non-profit organization that aims to support and encourage Vietnamese students with difficult circumstances to strive to study, to realize their dreams and aspirations.
Quyen said that she herself had experienced a difficult period, so she understood the hardships of poor students. Therefore, since 2017, Quyen and a number of young Vietnamese people abroad established the Korea Companion Scholarship Fund in Korea to provide scholarships to first- and second-year students in Vietnam with difficult circumstances. The fund is mobilized from social sources through many different channels.
“First- and second-year students are still confused and lack direction. Without timely support, when facing difficulties, they easily give up, give up, and leave their dream of going to school unfinished,” Quyen shared. From her own journey of efforts, through each exchange with students, she always inspires them to overcome adversity and overcome their own limits.
Students who receive scholarships from the Fund all have very difficult circumstances. To make decisions on awarding scholarships, in addition to reading student profiles, members of the Fund's executive board conduct 1-1 online interviews with students to better understand them. "Many interviews become sessions where students pour out their hearts about family matters such as their father abandoning them, their mother being sick, or the pain of being orphaned, feeling resentful... Some students cry the whole time, unable to speak because their mother is in the hospital and has no money for treatment. Those images and stories make us extremely troubled and give us more motivation to do better with the scholarship fund," Quyen shared.
Quyen herself and the members of the executive board have often spent extra money to help students pay for tuition and buy medicine for those undergoing medical treatment. For example, male student Huynh Tan H. (a student at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education) was a very good student but unfortunately had a brain tumor. After the deadline for taking a leave of absence to receive medical treatment, Quyen personally contacted the school to ask for a leave of absence to help him continue his treatment. She also broke the Fund's rule of only granting scholarships twice to a student, to grant a third scholarship to Huynh Tan H. This is one of the cases that made her most worried and tormented.
Quyen is actively connecting with other units, partners and young people to expand the activities of the Korea Companion Scholarship Fund to help more students light up their dreams.
Liu Trinh
Source: https://tienphong.vn/tu-co-gai-ngheo-den-giao-su-truyen-cam-hung-post1737809.tpo
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