RMIT International University VietnamTai Tran – Presidents Award 2007 SpeechLadies and gentlemen,One thing that would take me my whole life to write: the list of all the people,organizations, and wonders to whom I bear my gratitude. I owe my parents for raising meup, my teachers for my knowledge, and those who always support me for myachievements. I owe life, and I owe you so much. You have become part of my life, andthank you all for being with me in the last 4 years and especially today.I am delighted to be here to tell you the story of an important and unforgettable stage of my life.When I had the option of studying on a scholarship at the Vietnamese National University,a university abroad and RMIT International University Vietnam, I chose RMIT Vietnam. Irealized that RMIT came to Vietnam with the well-established knowledge of world-classquality, which could be adapted to best bring out the potential of the Vietnameseeconomy, culture and workforce. I had always felt the calling of being a valuable citizen of my country, therefore I always wanted to participate in the economic development of mycountry, by deeply understanding the characteristics of it, and by applying best practiceand lessons from developed countries. No institution other than RMIT Vietnam bettersatisfied this desire.At first, I indulged myself in the international environment and professional working styleof the university. I loved studying and researching in the labs and playing sports with myfriends. Furthermore, all the lecturers encouraged us to actively participate in classdiscussions and self-research, and they were very tolerant towards our ideas, anexperience I hadn’t had previously. Additionally, all the staff were very nice, helpful andresponsive to students’ needs. I really enjoyed the feeling of belonging to the RMITfamily.But then I felt an emptiness, not on the RMIT campus, but from the people outside. WhenI took part in the Student Ambassador Program to assist charitable organizations, Iwitnessed so many less fortunate lives in this fast-growing country. They suffered frompoverty, disasters, violence, and carelessness. Many children were not taken care of, ill-nurtured, or even abused for child labor. I still remember one young and bright boynamed Triet in the Future school for children with developmental difficulties, who alwayslooked at me with the pure eyes of an angel. His brain had been damaged previously by