Passionate about programming, a talented sixth-grader won the gold prize in the National Round of the International Comp

As the only Olympia student who won the gold prize in the National Round of theHong Kong International Computational Olympiad (HKICO) 2021 , Nguyen Tung Lam proudly advanced to the International Round that will take place on Saturday, June 12th, 2021.

Following the futuristic school model, the leaders of The Olympia Schools are constantly focusing on technological innovations. Technology applications are not only deployed to modernize the school and optimize the learning experience but also promoted into the curriculum. With that philosophy in mind, Informational Technology has been invested and developed in the past few years, incubating IT talents at Olympia.

As one of the Olympia IT talents, Tung Lam had won the gold prize in the National Round of the International Computational Olympiad and secured a ticket to participate in the International Round. Talking about his passion for information technology, Tung Lam shared his experience.

Tùng Lâm and his passion for IT when he was in grade 1

“I have been interested in learning IT since I was in third and fourth grade after watching Youtube videos about science and computer. In fifth grade, I started learning more about it. I learned Python and C++. It’s quite easy to understand and not that hard. Now, I am learning C# for programming games.

At first, I tried to learn by myself using online resources such as CodeAcademy website. I think that programming has many applications and it can develop lots of things.”;

In 2020, Tung Lam participated in the Robotics MakeX Competition. This is a worldwide, well-known playground that attracts many students to participate when it came to Vietnam. Participants will use a program called mBlock to develop their mBots. Each year, there will be a theme with different challenges, from self-programmed robots to autonomous robots. Tung Lam shared that he got a lot of support from instructors during the competition..

“The school has a robotics club for students from fifth to eighth grade. The club offers basic and advanced classes taught by instructors from Vietstem. At the basic level, students can learn about mBot programming, and at the Advance class, students are taught about App Inventor, App Development, and advanced mBot. We have the scale mode for robot testing and many modern types of equipment to experience”

According to Tung Lam, Computer Science - Programming is his favorite field. That could be the reason why Tung Lam was challenging himself by participating in many international and national IT competitions. In the National Round of the Hong Kong International Computational Olympiad (HKICO) 2021 that took part in April, Tung Lam had won the Gold Prize and he is also the only Olympia participant who won the Gold prize in Blockly at HKICO. The competition’s topic was the programming language Blockly, XML, and Javascript. With the gold prize, Tung Lam had secured a ticket to the International Computational Olympiad which will be held virtually on June 12, 2021.

““Miss Ha from ICT at Olympia has helped me a lot for the International Round. She helps me prepare the documents and organizes online tutoring classes. She also prepares mock tests, code training sessions on Blockly. I usually study on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday but since this week’s competition will be held on Saturday, my schedule will be changed to Monday, Wednesday, and Friday”Tung Lam shared about his preparation for the upcoming competition.

Thầy Lê Hà Linh - chủ nhiệm lớp Tùng Lâm cho biết: Mr. Le Ha Linh - Tung Lam’s homeroom teacher shared: “Talking about Tung Lam from 6H4, there is certainly nothing to mention besides praises from the teachers and supports from classmates. He is a bright star with outstanding academic performance. With his goal of getting a straight A grade report, Tung Lam has been trying his best to accomplish it. To reach his goal, he sets his checkpoints such as completing all the homework and reviewing them for quality check. Tung Lam is also a competent leader as he always fulfills his duties and enthusiastically supports team members.”;

In addition to the homeroom study, Tung Lam also spends time self-studying at home. Every day, the sixth-grader spends more than an hour for studying. Despite spending a lot of time using the computer, Tung Lam still has a good attention span. Whenever he feels like he’s getting distracted by games or social media, he uses applications that help to maintain concentration when using the computer. Mrs. Thanh Huyen, Tung Lam’s mother shared:

“From the first grade, Tung Lam has shown great self-disciplined in studying as he arranges his own study time, finishes all his homework and group work without having parents to remind him to do. He also actively ask us to buy him online courses about IT. Before every competition, he always asks for consent from his parents. He studies for the contest by himself and on the D-day, we will take him there. Our family does not place a strong emphasis on achievement, we respect our child’s interests and encourage him to pursue them.

Besides studying, Lam also loves playing games like his peers. There is a rule in the family that after the two brothers finished their tasks such as exercising, playing sports, practicing the piano, reading books, doing chores, etc., they will have time for playing games. This is the reason why Tung Lam can find the balance between playing computer games and doing other activities without parents having to worry about his overexposure to electronic devices.

When asked about technology application in school, Tung Lam shared his view

“When I saw the board in the Jordan room that says School of Future, I realized that technology is being developed inside our school. We can use different technology platforms for offline and online studying. The application of technology also makes our learning easier and more effective.”

Although is still early to have career orientations, Tung Lam expressed his desire to pursue the field of information technology, computer science, or programming in the future.

“My parents do not force me to follow their steps. Whatever I want to do, my parents will respect my dream so that I properly will have a chance to understand my strengths. For now, I am still on my way to self-discovery and my parents believe in my decision.”

Congratulations Tung Lam on the upcoming International Computational Olympiad and may his dream will come true in the near future.