SOUTHEAST ASIA YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

STUDENT APPLICATION FORM

Instructions for completing this application: Please fill out the application as completely as
possible, in English and bold. The information you provide on this application will provide the
basis for selecting semi-finalists for this program. Answer the questions carefully and
completely.

ABOUT YOU
Last Name: Thuy
First Name: Phan
Middle Name: Cam
Date of birth (MM/DD/YYYY): 12/19/2004
Gender: Female
Address: No.12, Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street, Ha Huy Tap Ward
Mobile Phone: 0948279899
Email: denoural2801@gmail.com
City and Country of Birth: Vinh City, Vietnam
Country of citizenship or permanent legal residence: Vietnam

ABOUT YOUR FAMILY

Parent or guardian name(s): Tran Thi Minh

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Address (if different from yours): No.12, Hai Thuong Lan Ong Street, Ha Huy Tap Ward
Mobile phone: 0913372431
Email: noithatquanghuy112@gmail.com
Occupation: Housewife
Brother(s)/Sister(s): Name-Age-Occupation
- Sisters: +Phan Thanh Huyen - 28 - Master of IT
+Phan Hong Anh - 25 - Real estate broker
-Brother: Phan Quang Triet - 12 - Students
ABOUT YOUR EDUCATION
School name: Phan Boi Chau Gifted High School
School address: No.119, Le Hong Phong Street, Hưng Binh Ward, Vinh City
Current grade: 10
Year you will graduate: 2022
How many years have you studied English? 9 years
Do you speak any other languages besides your native language and English? Yes
Which ones? French. I have been studying it since July 2019
Academic subjects you are most interested in? Literature and Civics
Please describe the activities (extracurricular, community, hobbies) in which you have
participated, how long you have been involved with each, any awards or honors. Highlight any
experiences with diversity and disability groups.
*Extracurricular activities:
- Member of Communication Department of Phan Boi Chau Model United Nation (PMU),
August 2019 - Present:
+ Write articles about world affairs
+ Promote the club events
- Head of Finance Department of Returning day 2020: OSTA, November 2019 - Present
+ make a list of sponsor, assign jobs to the member and set deadlines
+ administer fund, supervise all members’ activities, money transfer…
- Member of Art Department of ECXI, September 2019

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+ acted in a musical play
+ sang in a chorus
*Community activities:
- Leader of Communist Youth Club of class 9B, Ha Huy Tap Secondary School (from May
2015-May 2019)
+ propagated and participated in all movements of the Ha Huy Tap Youth Communist. For
example: buying toothpicks to help the blind, visiting the families of war heroes and
martyrs…
+ chaired annual Communist Youth Club congresses in class 9B
- Youth volunteer in Ha Huy Tap Ward, 2017 - Present
+ participate in environment movement in my neighborhood by cleaning the streets,
planting trees… every Sunday
+ guide younger students in summer activities in Ha Huy Tap Ward
*Ability:
- Sport: basketball, badminton, table-tennis, swimming
- Art: drawing, playing piano
=> Particularly, PMU has widened my knowledge about global issues and sharpened my
analytical thinking. In general, all of these activities help enhance my top soft skills,
especially leadership, negotiation, along with cooperation, money management and artistic
sense.
*Ability:
- Sport: basketball, badminton, table-tennis, swimming
- Art: drawing, playing piano
=> Particularly, PMU has widened my knowledge about global issues and sharpened
my analytical thinking. In general, all of these activities help enhance my top soft skills,
especially leadership, negotiation, along with cooperation, money management and artistic
sense.

Future studies and/or possible occupations you’ve considered?

-Future studies: International Relations or Defense & Strategic Studies
- Possible occupations: UN Political affair officer or Lobbyist

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ESSAY QUESTIONS
Please respond to the following short essay questions in no more than 250 words each.

 Do you think your country’s membership in ASEAN affects your daily life? How do you
think ASEAN can help your country address a challenge (such as climate change,
creating new jobs, or health issues) in the 21st century?

Vietnam’s integration into ASEAN has definitely changed my life for the better. Thanks to
the ASEAN Free Trade Area, people are having greater accessibility to wider ranges of
goods at an affordable price. It also benefits me in the sense that I am using higher quality
products (namely Thailand's) at a much more affordable price, therefore brings
satisfaction and convenience to my life. Besides, there is no need for visa in any ASEAN
country provided that one’s staying is not over 30 days, which immensely reduces the
hassle of traveling within the region. Regarding education, the ASEAN University Network
sets benchmark for the university system, which guarantees standardized higher education
quality and further help ensures my future.
As a student, I see that Vietnam's education system is in urgent need of modifying. Due to
the deficiency in infrastructures, a normal class is often overcrowded, negatively affecting
the teaching and learning quality. As the curricula are overloaded with theoretical
knowledge, plus the standard time is not enough for the students to take in all, they are
forced to attend after-school classes, which certainly stressed them out since they have no
time to rest.
ASEAN can support by offering even more scholarships or summer camps so that students
all over the region can join. These will create a wholesome learning environment and
provide us with stress-free yet practical curricula. Or they can support us by attracting
regional investors in order to renovate or set up new buildings. In exchange, Vietnamese
students will work for them in the future until the spent money is paid off. Another
promising solution is establishing an accredited online secondary school network in which
teenagers from eleven countries can study together and share learning experiences,
simultaneously solving the problem of overcrowding. This is beneficial to both the students
and Vietnam government in terms of space and finance.

 In what ways are you an effective leader? What leadership skills would you like to
improve?

In all modesty, I would take myself as a daring, pioneering yet charismatic and
compassionate one. My first involvement in the leadership role was in grade six when the
teacher looked for the class monitor candidates and the leader of youth communist. I was
the only one who dared to run for that 2 positions and was picked right away. I won my

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friends’ absolute trust as I always listened and understood their feelings. In high school,
though I am not a monitor anymore, my leadership is exposed through my participation in
extra-curricular activities and team works in class. My principles are democracy and
impartiality: I consult their opinions before making my own decisions and assign tasks
based on their competence. To me, it is crucial to not require my members to do jobs
beyond my capability. In that case, we would work together until the problems are solved. I
also pride myself on having an inquiring mind and the bravery to admit my mistakes,
along with self-correction.
As a leader, I am well aware that my ability to give feedback needs improving. Despite my
confidence in front of the crowd, I am reserved when commenting on people’s performance
in person. This is partly due to the fear of hurting their feelings and the way I express my
opinions. This happens whenever an individual barely contributes to our teamwork. As a
team leader, I cannot tolerate unfair distribution of work while must maintain the person’s
willingness to contribute. A feasible solution for my shortcoming is staying calm and
focusing more on their behavior rather than their reaction. Actually, I have made a little
progress now that I am able to make clearer remark. My ideas are more concise and they
can see my goodwill towards them that I am making constructive feedback, not criticising.
I believe that joining SEAYLP may help me fully overcome my weakness so as to be a
better leader of this generation.

 Why do you want to join this program? How will your participation in this program
benefit your community?

There are several reasons why I dearly want to join SEAYLP. First of all, I would like to
challenge myself in international settings and learn from other youth leaders in ASEAN. In
joining SEAYLP, I have set very specific goals of improving upon my weaknesses,
sharpening my soft skills (especially leadership), and enriching my living experiences. This
will be a stepping stone for me, bringing me closer to my life goal of being a West Point
Academy cadet. Secondly, with the knowledge and experience from this program, I will be
in a better position and better equipped to contribute to my community.
After SEAYLP, I am planning to launch a book reading project in my city, aiming
specifically at our youths. I have loved books for as long as I can remember. However, few
teenagers here have the habit of reading daily, and even fewer can choose wisely what to
read. From what I gather, this is mainly because of the downgrade of public libraries
(typically the Provincial Library) and the popularity of social media that lures the young
away from worth-reading materials. Therefore, my project will aim at raising public
awareness of current state of public libraries, henceforth can calling for funds to upgrade. I
will also organize a book exchange program as a part of my project where people can trade
their available books for the other ones. By this way, they will be able to read more books
without spending money. I am also passionate to organise reading workshops where

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teenagers are guided on how to choose the right ones that suit their needs and how to make
use of the information in books, with voluntary instructors who are excellent university
students. The goal is to make them become more proactive in their way of thinking,
enhance their imagination and increase their attention span. This is a very ambitious
project for me but after joining SEAYLP, which enhances my critical thinking and
interpersonal skills ( particularly leadership) , I believe that nothing is impossible.

MORE ABOUT YOU

Do you have a valid passport? If yes, move to the next questions. Yes
Issuing Country: Singapore
Passport Number: C3182174
Expiration Date (MM/DD/YYYY): 14/4/2022

Have you ever lived and/or studied in the United States or in another country? No
If yes: Where, when, why?

APPLICANT SIGNATURE
All information in this application is accurate and true

Signature_________________________________________ Date _________

Parent/Guardian signature(s):
I permit my child to apply for and, if selected, to participate in this program.

Signature_________________________________________ Date _________

Signature_________________________________________ Date _________

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SOUTHEAST ASIA YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM

Reference

For the Applicant: Below, fill in your name and give this form to a teacher or other adult
outside your family who knows you well. The form does need to be in English. Ask the reference
to fill out the form and submit with your application form.

Applicant Name: ____________________________________________________________

For the Reference: The student named above is applying to take part in the Southeast Asia
Youth Leadership Program, a three-week exchange program in the United States for students and
teachers. The selected students will be in a challenging academic environment and intensive
leadership training. To succeed, the participants must be highly motivated, and be able to adjust
to living and working with people of different social and cultural backgrounds. We value your
honest assessment of the applicant in helping us select the most appropriate participants. If you
would like to add additional comments, we encourage you to do so. Your answers will remain
confidential.

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Please indicate your opinion of this applicant’s ability to meet the challenges of this program
__✓__ I strongly recommend this student
_____ I recommend this student
_____ I have minor reservations about recommending this applicant
_____ I have major reservations about recommending this applicant
_____ I do not recommend this student

How long, and in what context or capacity, have you known this applicant?

What are the applicant’s strengths?

What are the academic or personal areas in which this applicant needs improvement?

Please describe the applicant’s behavior or attitude with respect to authority, peer relationships,
responsibility, and work activities.

Do you think the applicant would adapt well to unfamiliar environments and new situations?
Why or why not?

To whom it may concern,

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I am pleased to provide this letter of recommendation in support of Phan Cam Thuy’s
application to South East Asia Youth Leadership Program.
Thuy was the most outstanding student in my English class in Ha Huy Tap Secondary
School. Besides regular lessons under standard curriculum, I taught her advanced lessons
(twice a week) in order to participate in Provincial English contest for excellent students,
which gave me greater exposure to her capability and personality.
I know that Thuy is an active and hardworking student who always responded quickly to
any of my questions in class and submitted assignments on time with impeccable standards.
After 4 years of teaching her, it came to my knowledge that she is a determined, goal-
oriented and resilient student. From an average student in class, she worked hard to
become one of the most excellent ones in order to take part in the Provincial English
contest. Although she was gifted with lingual ability (in terms of both Vietnamese and
English), she was not very good with numbers and throughout her secondary-school years,
she had made a lot of effort to improve her Mathematics score. With an optimistic and
resilient attitude, she managed to pass the graduation test with flying colors in 3 subjects
Math, English and Literature and got herself into most reputable school in our province:
Phan Boi Chau Gifted High School.
Besides, Thuy is also a sociable student who are active in school collective activities. I find
that being a class monitor and leader of communist youth club of her class has made her
accountable towards any communal activities as well as helpful to people around her. I am
still impressed by her English speech on Vinh city then and now, which won the first prize
for her team. Even though there were competitions among students taking part in the
English contest, Thuy always tried to help her classmates when in needs and never let
jealousy got in their friendship. Her kindness and friendly personality have contributed a
lot to create a strong bond for students’ union.
With regard to her adaptability, I have no doubt that she is highly flexible and well-
adapted to new environments. It can be observed through different school events that she
led, whenever difficulties or disagreements arose, she can quickly find suitable solution and
adjust herself to accomodate the situation. Furthermore, Thuy is also open-minded thanks
to her experiences in an international summer camp in Singapore. I believe that the
opportunity to live far away from family, being in a strange country and making friends
with people from all over South East Asia has resulted in her adaptable personality and
international mindset.

All in all, I would like to restate my strong recommendation for Phan Cam Thuy. If you
have any further questions regarding her ability or this letter, please do not hesitate to
contact me.

Sincerely,

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Name (printed): Thai Lan Cuc
Signature_________________________________________ Date ___12/11/2019_____

Contact number: 0942975955

Email: lancuc82@gmail.com

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My score in grade 9

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