Outstanding performance at the GLEC Global Conference
Outperforming more than 20 of the best contestants from Korea, Japan, China, India, and Vietnam, Nguyen Thanh Mai (8Canberra) won the championship at the Global Leadership English Challenge Conference (GLEC). The conference brought together middle and high school students to discuss, research, and create new solutions to global sustainable development challenges. The 2023 conference gathered the top students from the GLEC national rounds. Thanh Mai is a contestant who received the National First Prize in the 2022 presentation round, making her a Vietnamese representative at this year’s conference.
With the theme “Balancing Economic Development with Environmental Protection”, Thanh Mai completed both a personal and a group project. Her personal project is an essay on three topics: Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and Women’s Health. In the group project, Thanh Mai coordinated and researched sustainable urban development solutions with foreign team members.
The conference’s topics will probably lead many people to think that these are the topics of university students’ Graduate theses or the Institute of International Studies. Because, in order to accomplish this issue successfully, the implementer must not only have a thorough understanding of and synthesize information from many different fields but also delve deep to assess feasibility, analyze effectively, and calculate costs. Thanh Mai, however, proved to the international scholar community that the 8th graders at Dewey can also master such topics, thanks to their excellent academic background, interdisciplinary English skills, and application of Design Thinking that has been trained at school.
The Thanh Mai team proposed an action plan after reaching out to advanced solutions in Germany, Singapore, the Netherlands, etc. To solve the problem of clean energy and green urban development, Thanh Mai offers solutions to expand the number of parks and gardens in the city center as well as build “green roofs” to optimize space. Beyond the urban center, Thanh Mai provided clean energy alternatives, including wind and solar energy, as well as the use of vertical farming to maximize the area and reduce the carbon footprint of urbanization.
The solution brought spectacular victory
The Thanh Mai team proposed an action plan after reaching out to advanced solutions in Germany, Singapore, the Netherlands, etc. To solve the problem of clean energy and green urban development, Thanh Mai offers solutions to expand the number of parks and gardens in the city center as well as build “green roofs” to optimize space. Beyond the urban center, Thanh Mai provided clean energy alternatives, including wind and solar energy, as well as the use of vertical farming to maximize the area and reduce the carbon footprint of urbanization.
14-year-old TDSer shared the secret to achieving success at the conference: “My views indicate that during this Conference, the attitude of learning is the most important. The judges will evaluate the contestants based on our enthusiastic participation in the expert workshops, our capacity for questioning, and our in-depth comprehension of the problem, which will provide us with a solid foundation to present outstanding solutions. In addition, the spirit of collaboration assisted me in overcoming the Conference’s challenges. I was paired with friends from other countries, such as Korea and the Philippines, and I had very limited time to prepare and present my research, which meant we had to properly coordinate and discuss with each other to accomplish good outcomes.”
Thanh Mai was crowned Champion of the Global Leadership English Challenge Conference, which means she can:
- Be published in the final report and receive the Special Certificate awarded by Mr. Park Soo-gil, Honorary President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA).
- Get a USD 2,000 academic scholarship to attend the training program at the United Nations headquarters in New York, USA, from August 4 to August 12, 2023.
- Visit four of the most prestigious Ivy League universities in the United States: Colombia, Harvard, MIT, and Yale.
Come see some other agencies of the United Nations and visit New York, USA.
Congratulations to Thanh Mai for completing a brave competition and earning proud achievements. The scholarship is a worthy reward for her years of effort and the companionship of her family and the school. Wishing Thanh Mai a summer filled with exciting experiences in the United States, making new foreign friends, and spreading the bright image of Dewey students throughout the world!
