Who is the targeted population of Orchid Scholarship?
Orchid Scholarship focuses on high school students (15-18 years old). We believe high school is a crucial transitional period for youths. This sensitive period can change their destiny, by either opening a gate to colleges or closing their promising future. Unfortunately, high school students in Vietnam are not well supported by both government and private sectors as compared to college students.
What are the selection criteria?
We aim for high school students with an excellent academic record and are ambitious, but from low income families. Thus our three major criteria are: difficult circumstances in physical and/or financial aspects, good academic records as well as strong aspiration.
How is the selection process?
To be considered, applicants must complete the application form which can be submitted online or through our local partners. The application will be evaluated based on standardized scale (by grading circumstance, academic outcome and aspiration in a convened scale). Our local partners will conduct an interview to clarify the application content if necessary. The final decision is made by our Executive Volunteers and approved by our Board of Trustees.
Which high schools are currently our local partners?
Tong Hop (High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi University of Science), Hanoi Su Pham (High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi National University of Education), Hanoi Hau Loc I, Thanh Hoa Quoc Hoc, Hue. As our foundation grows larger in the future, we will consider expanding our partnerships, especially to high schools in other areas of Vietnam. At the same time, our priority is to continue our strategic relations with our current partners.
Does Orchid Scholarship focus on specialized high schools in big cities? Why?
Yes. At the initial stage, we focus on gifted students from specialized schools who are living far away from home. From our experiences, we believe those students best fit in our criteria, which are excellent academic records and ambitious from low income families. In the future, we may consider other disadvantageous students from rural areas in Vietnam.
What is the scholarship amount?
Each scholarship comprises of a certificate and a sum of 1.000.000 Vietnamese Dong (around 60 Singapore Dollars). This amount covers all the tuition fees for each awarded student within a year. The monetary value may not be significant, yet it serves as a big spiritual encouragement in order to foster the students to pursue their dreams. We also hope that our certificate of recognition can help them in their future endeavors. The total number of awards will be based on donation amounts received each year.
How do we spend the donation money?
The donations are divided into two categories
- internal: donations by people in the Orchid Executive Team
- external: donations by other people
The external donations will be solely used for the purpose of awarding scholarships to students. The operating expenses (printing, postage, fund-raising activities, etc) will be completely covered by internal donations. Once all operating expenses are covered, the remaining balance of the internal donations will be contributed to the scholarships.
