On 7 September 2024, the management committee of the Bùi Trọng Chương Scholarship Fund (BTCSF) and the leadership of the Lê Hồng Phong High School for the Gifted organized a ceremony and a luncheon to celebrate one decade of activities of BTCSF.
At this ceremony, besides
the leadership of the Lê Hồng Phong High School for the Gifted and BTCSF management
committee members (Professor Lương Văn Hy, Former Lê Hồng Phong Principal Võ
Anh Dũng, Mr. Trần Hữu Phúc Tiến, and Teacher Lâm Hoàng Phúc), the following
distinguished guests also attended:
·
Professor Phan Thanh Bình, former Chair of
the Committee on Culture, Education, Youth, and Children of the Vietnamese
National Assembly, Petrus Ký-Lê Hồng Phong class of 1971-1979
·
Mr. Nguyễn Đại Hùng Lộc, Director General
of Ysiman company in Đồng Nai province, Petrus Ký-Lê Hồng Phong class of
1972-1979
·
Mr. Đặng Chiếu Nhiên, Head of the
Alumni-Former Teacher Liaison Committee, Petrus Ký-Lê Hồng Phong class of
1970-1977
·
Mr. Lê Hữu Thiện and Ms. Nguyễn Thị Minh
Lý, President and Vice President of the Parent Association of the Lê Hồng Phong
High School for the Gifted
·
Dr. Nguyễn Bảo Thanh Nghi, Dean of the
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Văn Lang University, Lê Hồng Phong
class of 1990-1993, and
·
Over 50 Bùi Trọng Chương scholarship
recipients over the years, including Mr. Thái Hoàng Ngọc Vỹ currently working
in the United States. (Many others, who studied overseas, or worked away from Hồ Chí
Minh city, or attended university classes at the time of the ceremony, could
not attend).
Over a decade, the Bùi Trọng
Chương Scholarship Fund has provided 154 scholarships to 114 outstanding/excellent
students in adverse circumstances at the Lê Hồng Phong High School for the
Gifted. From the academic year 2020-21 to 2024-25, BTCSF has provided annually
230 million VND to over 300 million VND for scholarships, even when the fund
raising was not a big success in 2024.
Some scholarship recipients have received full
scholarships at well-known universities, such as Stanford University, National
University of Singapore, and University of British Columbia. Members of the Bùi
Trọng Chương Scholarship Fund have provided advice upon request to Bùi Trọng
Chương scholarship recipients on university admission and scholarship applications.
Other scholarship recipients have attended leading universities in Vietnam.
The
Bùi Trọng Chương Scholarship Fund has received support and donations from many
Petrus Ký-Lê Hồng Phong alumni and other donors, both in Vietnam and overseas.
From 2020 to 2023, BTCSF received generous contributions from the Sharing Charity group. In 2024, some Bùi
Trọng Chương scholarship alumni have also made donations to support younger
students, which reflects their strong fellow student support spirit. Vietnam Centrepoint has also provided
English-language bursaries to BTCSF recipients. Each bursary is currently worth
at 11 million VND each quarter, up to 44 million VND a year.
The Bùi Trọng Chương Scholarship
Fund has received two kinds of donations:
a. donations directly
used for scholarships, and
b. donations to an
endowment fund from which only investment interests are used for scholarships.
The establishment of an
endowment fund enables the Bùi Trọng Chương Scholarship Fund to increase the
value of scholarships over time and to award scholarships on a long-term basis.
While the endowment is still modest and the number of scholarships from endowment
income is still relatively small, donations directly used for scholarships have
helped to increase the number of scholarships, especially in years of economic
difficulties, during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the ceremony, BTCSF
management committee members also received valuable suggestions on how to
provide more assistance to outstanding/excellent students in adverse
circumstances at this leading high school in southern Vietnam, and to nurture young
talents in the country.
