If the emotional quotient is no less important than the intelligent quotient, as many people would agree today, then Vietnam-Australia International School (VAS) has done the right thing. The school, established in 2004, has been widely known as a pioneering and leading international bilingual school in Vietnam, but what is more valuable at the school is its success in cultivating humanitarian values in younger generations, aiming to develop “the green buds” – the global citizens who are compassionate and responsible towards the community.
In nearly 20 years since its inception, the school has regularly organized many community programs, during which VASers – as the school’s students are referred to – are organized to conduct community activities, interact with the people, and help the needy among others.
Teaching students to extend love
Spreading love is what VASers are taught during corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities under the VAS Community Program, and is what such students have conveyed during and following their community endeavors.
Just look at some chats sent by VASers, and one will see how the children have developed certain altruistic feelings towards others. One message reads “With just a little of love and care, we can make the world better”, while another goes “Seeing happy smiles from little children are the most valuable rewards for VASers after long days of preparation”.
The VAS Community is one of multiple programs on environmental protection and community support that VAS has consistently organized over the years with an aim to inspire all VASers on love and responsibility towards the community. With a vision of becoming a “house of exellence education and pursuing sustainable development, the school, apart from equipping students with academic knowledge and other skills, has especially focused on building core values for the future generation via community activities.
Apart from the VAS Community, the school has organized various inspirational programs such as VAS Talks to encourage VASers in creating sustainable values, 3Rs Projects to encourage students to participate in Reduce-Reuse-Recycle campaigns, and VAS Green Day to raise funds from a running event for planting trees in Can Gio Forest.
In the 2022-2023 academic year, VASers have also participated in numerous community projects with a total value of more than VND1 billion, one of them being a project to build a concrete bridge named Viet Uc 1 spanning 18 meters and costing VND130 million. The construction cost for the bridge project, which began on August 21, 2023, came from VAS Ba Thang Hai teachers, students and their parents.
Teaching students to go out, experience life, and grow up in their own ways
At VAS, students are encouraged to take the initiative in implementing projects, be it for study, for fun or for charity. Take the VAS Community program for example. Apart from calling on students to make contributions in cash or in kind to support the community, the school asks students to conceive ideas on how to best benefit the community, while teachers are simply companions.
Young students have assembled solar lamps to donate to peers in upland regions, made cakes or grown organic veggies for sale to raise funds, and created handicrafts from various materials also to raise funds for charity events. They have also organized music shows, collected secondhand books and toys or learning kits to donate to other children at shelters or other elementary schools in poverty-stricken areas. They have also bought meals and worked at charity eateries, or made video clips and leaflets about environmental protection.
After seven years, VAS Community has selected and supported 51 projects by VASers with a total funding of VND800 million, with an aim to create new values for the community.
For VASers, each project is not meant as a kind-hearted trip to spread love, but a lesson for them to learn the values of life, helping them grow up to their fullest fulfillment.
For nearly 20 years, VAS has become widely known as a school of top Cambridge award winners. The school is providing Cambridge international curriculums for nearly 8,000 students at six campuses that have all been certified by Cambridge Assessment International Education.
But, as said earlier, the school has strongly attended to cultivating human values in their students because, as it is widely agreed, who you are is even more important than what you do.
Discover the world of opportunities with VAS’s international pathways at: www.vas.edu.vn or call 0911 26 77 55.
