Creating value from tradition with VBIC 2025

VBIC is a competition that challenges high school students across Vietnam and Southeast Asia to apply creative and innovative thinking in business. Organized by Fulbright University Vietnam in partnership with reputable educational organizations, this year’s competition was themed “Innovation from Tradition.” It not only tested business acumen but also called for participants to fuse creativity with local cultural values—crucial elements for sustainable success in any market.

Teaming up with a student from The Olympia Schools, Trường An and Hoàng Lan embarked on a two-month journey filled with challenges, workshops, and real-world experiences. Their learning extended from early mornings to late nights—ranging from classrooms and Zoom calls to hands-on visits at Vinamilk’s high-tech factories, the competition’s key corporate partner.

In the final round held last weekend, the two TDSers were tasked with crafting a strategy to market Vinamilk’s Green Farm product line to Gen Z (ages 15–25). With only four hours to brainstorm ideas, design slides, and prepare their pitch—and being the first team to present—they impressed the judges with bold thinking and innovative solutions. Their standout proposals included QR code integration on packaging for transparent milk production tracking, and Milk vending machines that also collect used packaging for recycling, helping to create a green consumer ecosystem.

Judge Nguyễn Bùi Lê Huy, Northern Representative of Fulbright University Vietnam, praised their confident English presentation and sharp business insight: “The students’ strategy not only addressed the consumer’s need for transparency and trust but also tackled the enterprise’s goal of brand enhancement and sustainable development. Their market research and competitor analysis were meticulous and heartfelt. What astonished the judges most was that this level of quality came from students who had just started high school. We’re proud to award them two 50% scholarships to help them confidently apply to join the Fulbright University community.”

University doors opened by the spirit of “Tough game? Count us in!”

Gaining early admission into university as a freshman in high school is a feat few students even dare to dream of. But with a fearless “think big, act bold” mindset and a readiness to seize opportunities, Trường An and Hoàng Lan dove into this competition with a strong sense of responsibility and determination. Once hesitant to talk to strangers, Trường An now proactively visits supermarkets to survey prices and interviews customers to grasp consumer trends. And the once-nervous Hoàng Lan—who used to sweat at the thought of public speaking—is now confidently debating in English alongside her team throughout each round of the competition.

Throughout their journey, the duo was deeply grateful for the guidance of experienced mentors, including professors, researchers, and academic managers from Harvard University and Fulbright University, and executives from leading Vietnamese companies.

Mr. Nguyễn Trọng Tùng, their accompanying teacher, shared, “I’m proud that TDS students always embrace new challenges with a strong learning spirit. But what brings me even more joy is seeing that both Trường An and Hoàng Lan value the bigger takeaways from this experience—learning from other teams, meeting mentors, and connecting with top industry experts. The first thing they did after being announced as winners was to thank their teammates for standing strong together and extend their gratitude to the other teams for making the whole journey so meaningful.”

Their journey doesn’t stop at competitions. As active members of the Dewey Scholarship Hunting Club and Business Club, Trường An and Hoàng Lan now aim to unite these two communities—spreading a spirit of daring and igniting a passion for entrepreneurship among fellow students.

As the inspiring Hoàng Lan puts it, “The harder the game, the more worth playing.” These young TDSers have already shown boldness, confidence, and a readiness to embrace challenges. Let’s hope their fire continues to burn bright, lighting the way for others and carrying them ever closer to their dreams of becoming successful entrepreneurs of the future.

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After the book idea was put forward, her team enthusiastically participated in writing, editing, illustrating, and translating. In the first month after their journey, the book was completed and released nine months later. This is a great success for the students, who have created their own brand and proved that nothing is impossible with will and effort.

“Westward Journey” is a collection of short stories built around the 10-day journey of 13 teenage students. The book tells about everyday life stories, unforgettable memories, precious feelings, and experiences when children set foot in each new land and met new people.

They and strangers lived together, made their own plans, divided tasks, and got a meaningful journey from the capital to Ca Mau Cape, from the plains to the river, and from Can Tho to Dong Thap.

The stories are very realistic and lightly documented by the inner thoughts, pure feelings, and many unforgettable emotions of teenagers. Each moment fills the flavor of life and life experience for each individual on their adult journey.

1000 bilingual books of this short story collection are now published in both English and Vietnamese in the Thaihabooks:

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In the Visual Arts subject, students learn painting techniques, considerations of composition, color, and lines to create harmonious and aesthetically pleasing artworks. Meanwhile, in the Literature-VVietnamese subject, students explore expressing emotions through the art of creation, comparing and contrasting with other forms of artistic expression. Through this, students express their need to convey emotions through this art form and learn to appreciate and create artistic beauty by following the path of artists who have gone before. Throughout this project, students have been equipped with knowledge and methods to express their emotions through specific painting works and writings. Particularly with innocence, authenticity, and being equally creative in expressing their thoughts and emotions, many student works at the exhibition have made parents pause for a long time to read, admire, and feel.

Present at the exhibition, Ms. Nguyen Van Trang, a student’s parent, shared, “The exhibition truly surprises the viewers. Despite being in 5th grade, the children have remarkably profound thoughts on social issues. Many areas, such as the environment, family, friends, emotions, etc., are clearly expressed through their drawings and writings. I had to take photos of many artworks to read and contemplate; there are many lessons we can learn from the children themselves. The combination of these two subjects is truly effective; they complement each other. Some children observe the paintings and then write, while others write before drawing, so every piece is filled with emotions.”

Currently, the products of the “Voice of Hands” exhibition are still on display in the E-hall of FV88 It Com Tay Ho Tay. We invite all parents to revisit the opening moments of the exhibition by these “young artists” and to admire the achievements that TDSers have attained through this project!

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“I’m seeking 1 VND million for 50% of stake for the “Cat Scratcher” so that we can better invest in the product that sharks are seeing here.”

In front of teachers and the two parents as investors, Thien An – a 6Toronto student boldly explained about the cat scratcher project, then seek a million dong.

“Novel learning method,” “learning through life experiences,” and “stimulating creativity and breakthroughs for students” were phrases that teachers and parents talked about in the “Cat Scratcher” project of the G6 Dewey student (Cau Giay campus) in the MDE (Maker – Design – Engineering) subject that was integrated from Mount Vernon School (rated in the US top 10 for most innovative schools in 2017).

The project was implemented by students in 4 weeks through the steps of raising ideas, dividing groups to develop an implementation plan, and pitching the product for investment from “Sharks.” To make design thinking more practical, TDSers has turned drawings on paper into real products with practicality. During the project implementation, teachers always supported and gave students counsel when needed. Students were centered and challenged with questions, so their brains were always “active” to find answers. The knowledge from hands-on experience, trials, and mistakes provided students with a solid foundation. At each stage of the implementation process, students listened to the presentations of other groups and gave feedback in a 1:1:1 model. This is what we call the three-step feedback method of giving compliments, asking questions, and making constructive comments. Besides the design thinking orientation, the 1:1:1 model is an element of the MDE educational method.

After pitching the products in front of the class, the groups called for investment. Two parents as investors would propose questions and ask students for clarifications about the products, design purposes, and their reasons for product detail arrangement and the feasibility of the products. “Our group hopes to bring this product into real life and change the material from carton to wood,” said a member, and then this group successfully called for 1 VND million (30% of 3 million) from investors.

After the project, the biggest achievement that students reaped from the project was the knowledge gained through practical work. Students learned how to coordinate better while working in groups, confidently express their thoughts and gain more experience through objective arguments.

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It is not the scores or academic achievement but the process of learning Literature – Vietnamese involving the senses of sight, sound, and touch that has helped students acquire knowledge, practice skills, and self-assess their learning performance through innovative products and projects that are breakthroughs, going beyond the traditional teaching and learning format.

Writing essays, producing cartoons and short films in the project “Worlds of Mind”.

In the 2021-2022 school year, the year-end lesson in Literature – Vietnamese for Middle & High School students was held in the form of an Open Workshop called “Worlds of Mind” – inspired by the book of the same name by Canh Buom publishing company. In other words, the year-end lesson was like a big lesson for both teachers, students, and parents to join in the theatre. Looking back, we had gone through many lessons, reviewed what we learned, learned new things, summarized the lessons, and made new experiential projects throughout the school year.

The two tasks given to students in the year-end lesson were to write individual essays and make group videos. For essays, students are allowed to choose any topic of interest related to the subject. As for group tasks, in order to work most effectively, students organized meetings by themselves, clearly divided duties, and take responsibility for their own work. TDSers took full advantage of their Literature – Vietnamese lessons, recess, and after-school time in the hope of being able to portray the most colorful “worlds” in their minds and convey meaningful messages to viewers through these “handmade” videos.

The special feature of this project was that instead of being evaluated on a 10-point scale like normal standardized tests, students were evaluated according to specific criteria for each product category. Specifically, for the essay, the evaluation criteria would be the way students brainstorm and choose their topic, their ability to build an outline, successfully write an essay, and defend the points made in the essay in front of their class. Regarding video-making, the students were evaluated based on their ideas for videos, their own scripts, filming, editing, graphic making, and teamwork. This is also how special the assessment is at FV88 It Com. Going beyond the framework of scores or achievements, this learning method helps teachers and parents properly assess the student’s abilities and strengths, and helps them develop a real love for this subject.

Ms. Thanh Hai also added that “This learning method is what I have observed during the past few academic years. Students take an active role in showing their creativity; they are empowered to decide their own learning experience. Teachers strive not only to guide and inspire students but also to catch up with modern educational trends. I highly appreciate the efforts of the students and teachers.”

The “Worlds of Mind” project was a major demonstration of TDSers’ bravery and ability to adapt to the rapid changes in life, as well as a proud achievement that students wanted to show to teachers and parents after a special school year. Parents were also surprised by excellent essays with difficult topics and short films inspired by Gen Z’s real problems or animated films “out of the school’s screening room,” according to the Literary critic Mai Anh Tuan. Above all, the experiences the students have gained during the project implementation are the most valuable, providing them with the necessary knowledge and skills to take further steps in their learning and development journey later in life.

Theatricalization of literary works

The theatricalization of literary works is an engaging form of experience, promoting students’ creativity through the choice of works, group work, participation in script-writing, role-playing, and giving ideas on designing a stage that is suitable for the literary work. This is also an opportunity for students to hone and develop skills such as singing, dancing, story-telling, and acting, boosting their confidence and encouraging them to express their imagination and creative thinking as well as promoting their love for Vietnamese and Literature.

In the year-end Literature – Vietnamese event at the end of the 2021-2022 school year, Elementary School students demonstrated their own growth and learning outcomes of a school year through selected drama works. The students also confidently led their parents and grandparents to visit the product showcase and introduce the works they had done at school. After the theatricalization of literary works, the “adults” once again deeply felt the meaning of Literature – Vietnamese in the development of their children. Rather than merely watching and listening, grandparents and parents also participated in games related to the topics that the children learned at school, such as rhyming, matching sentences, making Luc Bat poems, guessing words, etc. This was to help parents experience and better understand the special curricula and learning methods at FV88 It Com.

At the year-end lesson event, Mr. Bui Ngoc Son – a parent happily shared that: “As a parent of 2 children studying at FV88 It Com, I also had the opportunity to participate in many similar year-end events. The feelings in each event are not the same, but one thing in common is that they all make me extremely emotional. What is the most visible to me is the growth of my children when they study offline at school under the guidance of the teachers.”

Gen Z at TDS study Literature in their own way

Dewey students approached and experienced the project “The Tale of Kieu in the Heart of People” in a unique way in the Literature subject for Grade 9. In this project, with the guidance of teachers, The Tale of Kieu went beyond a classic literary work to become the source of inspiration for “masterpieces” to be produced by students.

Students made documentaries, wrote essays, practiced Kieu fortune-telling, tried reciting Kieu, designed Kieu-themed Tarot cards, made sketches, etc. Through a wide range of formats, students well presented the knowledge they had obtained. One of those impressive products is the train ticket for the train from Hanoi to Ha Tinh, the hometown of Nguyen Du. By portraying the characters and extracting specific lines from The Tale of Kieu, the students created a unique train ticket, reminding people of the sceneries “portrayed by the words” as a way to honor the great author of Vietnam.

Students at FV88 It Com also designed two sets of Tarot cards and poker cards with selected excerpts and images from the classic poem. The two sets of cards are considered the “recreation” of Kieu’s fortune-telling that they had been studying during the project. This is clear evidence of the fact that, regardless of the time, the cultural and traditional heritages of the nation will still be preserved and enjoyed in different ways.

The poster called “A Collection of Kieu” portrays the important scenes in the poem with creative illustrations, allowing readers to easily access and explore the class work. And it would be a mistake not to mention the handmade “New Year Reading,” an interesting product conveying funny predictions for the future as well as meaningful lessons as another way for people to experience the masterpiece of Vietnamese literature.

That students approached The Tale of Kieu in different ways is a big step in enjoying and honoring this great work. We can clearly see how Kieu is loved by the students as well as the efforts they had invested in studying and promoting this work to people.

Literature and Vietnamese are not boring subjects, but it truly is difficult to attract students without knowing how to relate the content to real life. With that concern, the Social Science teachers team at FV88 It Com have made great efforts to organize “real study – real practice” activities with hands-on projects to create excitement and pull students closer to Literature – Vietnamese.

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This project of making a magazine is from the first lesson regarding Argumentative Essays in the subject of Humanities for G10 students. Upon getting the assignment, TDSers from 10Sofia were eager to start right away by choosing a theme for the magazine and the content for their essays.

With this project, there are many new things that students must find out to be able to produce a magazine, such as classical structure, how to write an argumentative essay, different ways to organize an essay, how to use academic magazines, techniques to select materials or studies for reference, and different resources that students can use for their essays. This project is a challenge but also a good opportunity for students to prepare themselves with the necessary skills for writing essays in college.

Experiential and orientation activities have long become familiar activities integrated into many subjects at FV88 It Com (TDS). This is a series of educational activities designed and implemented by the school, creating opportunities for students to approach reality, experience positive emotions, exploit previous experiences, and synthesize knowledge and skills of subjects to perform assigned tasks or solve real-life problems at school, home, and society by age. Thereby, experienced experiences are transformed into new knowledge, new understanding, and new skills, promoting creativity and adaptability to future life, environment, and career.

Talking about the teaching method of Humanities at TDS, Mr. Colin Brownlie said, “I think my job is to keep students on the right track and facilitate them to motivate themselves in learning. Therefore, I create an environment where they can be open with their decisions and choices, hence being more motivated and inspired by what they learn. Every day, I try to make my lessons related to real life as much as possible; for example, making a magazine might be something they might do in the future. I always make room for students to practice the skills that they can use even outside the classroom.”

The travel magazine project is just one of many creative projects that TDSers experience throughout their learning and development at FV88 It Com. And surely, the knowledge and experience that they have gained through their learning projects will be valuable for their development so that they can fly higher and further in the future.

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– HUMANITIES (English – Humanities) is taught 100% in English by expat teachers, in the Bilingual (Discover) Program and the Adventure International Program at FV88 It Com.
️- This subject provides general knowledge in many fields such as History, Geography, Philosophy, Literature, Art, Politics, and Language, thereby building a deep understanding of the problems that people are facing and broadening the horizons and knowledge of global citizens.
– Humanities is an integrated subject from our partner school Mount Vernon School – Top 10 most innovative schools in the US and designed by a team of international education consultants and ERPC at FV88 It Com.

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