11-year-old Vietnamese-American student enters university in New Zealand, inspiring her home country

March 26, 2022 17:42

Arriving in New Zealand at the age of 7, Alisa Pham completed the entire primary school program in just 1 year and finished secondary school in 2 years.

In early 2022, Alisa officially became a student at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand (AUT) at the age of 11.

News about Alisa was published by the New Zealand Herald - the Kiwi's largest newspaper - in mid-March 2022 and quickly created a fever not only in New Zealand but also in Vietnam.

"Alisa is our youngest ever student," said Alison Sykora, a spokesperson for AUT, a top 1% university in the world. "Alisa impresses everyone with her maturity and intelligence."

Tuoi Tre is the first Vietnamese newspaper that Alisa has accepted an interview with. Almost exactly a year ago, child prodigy Vicky Ngo - Alisa's non-blood sister, who graduated from AUT at the age of 15 - also interacted with Vietnamese readers.

The journey to study beyond the grade level is already difficult, in 2 years of COVID-19, schools have switched to online, it seems this path is even more difficult?

- Yes. In early February 2021, I was in grade 9 at Selwyn College (New Zealand). To "skip" to take the high school graduation exam (NCEA) and enter university, the required condition is to accumulate 10 credits of grade 11 math, 10 credits of grade 12 literature and at least 60 credits for 3 subjects for university admission.

In June 2021, I had enough 10 math credits and 10 literature credits. When I was preparing to continue reviewing 3 university entrance subjects, the city of Auckland where I live was under social distancing for more than 100 days from August to mid-November 2021.

According to regulations, "skipping" exams must be taken at school and under the supervision of a proctor. So in these 3 months, I studied hard and reviewed for 60 credits in 3 university entrance subjects - including accounting, economics and digital technology - but could not take the exam.

The New Zealand High School Graduation Exams are approaching, usually in November. More than 10 times, I have received emails from teachers warning me that my plan to study ahead will not be feasible in 2021.

Luckily for me, in November 2021, schools in Auckland returned to face-to-face teaching. I rushed to complete 60 credits, taking an average of 6 exams per week. This was quite a lot of pressure because normally students in New Zealand will spend 2 years in grades 12 and 13 to accumulate these 60 credits.

Another lucky thing is that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, New Zealand postponed the high school graduation exam to December, so I was able to complete the necessary conditions and qualify to take the NCEA graduation exam.

At the end of January 2022, I received acceptance letters from 5 universities in New Zealand, including Canterbury University, Waikato University, Massey University, Unitec Institute of Technology and Auckland University of Technology.

Unable to go to school, how did Alisa study at home during more than 3 months of social distancing?

My "teacher" at that time was Google Scholar (Google's platform for searching academic documents - PV). I looked up everything related to the lesson. I downloaded the given exam types and found new exercises.

Some lectures are available on channels like YouTube, I also go there to study more. If there are any difficult parts, I will ask Vicky but at that time she was studying for her university graduation exam so she was quite stressed.

My mother once told me that if I wanted to master my studies and not depend on anyone else’s progress, I had to learn how to study on Google Scholar. When I first came to New Zealand, I really liked drawing but didn’t have the opportunity to go to class.

I learned to draw online, from manga to shoe design, fashion clothing stores, etc. Perhaps that period trained my skills to learn what I wanted on a digital platform.

At the age of 11, even though she has entered university, is Alisa still childish?

- I'm very lazy (laughs). In the morning, Vicky usually wakes up first, so I sleep in a little longer. Sometimes I skip washing dishes, sweeping the floor, or secretly playing video games. I also like to... bite my nails and I really like drawing, so sometimes I use a pen to draw on my arms and knees for fun.

A funny story is that I was given 50 New Zealand dollars for Christmas. I wanted to buy something worth 17 US dollars. I stayed up for 3 nights reading financial forecasts from the Fed, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand… to see how the exchange rate would fluctuate to decide when the best time to buy would be.

It took a lot of effort but in the end I only saved 50 cents at most, so I stopped calculating and went shopping.

Want to become a lawyer to protect children's rights

Mr. Andrew Speed, Vice Principal of Selwyn College, shared that in Grade 9 (2021), Alisa has strived to successfully complete the general education program. Commenting on the young student, he said that Alisa has an independent learning style and a strong motivation to complete the goals she sets.

At AUT, Alisa will study two degrees in parallel: Creative Branding and Digital Marketing. "I plan to complete the 2-year program. After that, I may continue studying law because I want to become a child rights lawyer," said Alisa.

Inspirational

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, founder of the "Wisdom House" project, shared that Alisa and Vicky are familiar speakers of the project. In 2021, they often participated in online talks with students in remote areas of the Central region, giving them more motivation to overcome difficulties.

"Each talk was warmly received, especially in places with many difficulties. I really admire the closeness and kindness of the students. There was a time when exams were stressful, but the students did not cancel or postpone any event," said Mr. Tuan.

"Vietnam currently has about 25 million children under 18 years old, of school age, of which about 5 million are disabled children and children from poor households. All of these children need help not only materially but also spiritually.

Vicky Ngo and Alisa Pham are inspiring examples, creating a motivation to study for thousands of students in Vietnam" - excerpt from the letter of introduction by Dr. Hoang Thi Hoa, Deputy Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children, sent to the New Zealand Immigration Department on November 25, 2021.

According to Tuoi Tre