AN OVERVIEW OF THE OUR LADY OF LA VANG SCHOLARSHIP
In 2010 a young student carried within him a longing to support the dreams of those still meeting many obstacles on the road to their future. He was a final-year student at Duy Tân University — Trần Quân (now Father Phêrô Trần Quân). At that time central Việt Nam was suffering the heavy consequences of a historic flood, and so it was impossible for families to provide for their children. In order to ease some of the financial hardship then facing Catholic students from Vinh who were studying in Đà Nẵng, Trần Quân conceived the idea and called on friends and benefactors to establish the Flood Relief Fund for Students of the Diocese of Vinh in Đà Nẵng (with the permission of Bishop Giuse Châu Ngọc Tri, Bishop of the Diocese of Đà Nẵng, and Father Phêrô Hoàng Gia Thành, spiritual director). It was from here that the idea of a scholarship fund first took shape, and this was the forerunner of the Chắp Cánh Ước Mơ Scholarship (its original name).
On 16 January 2011 the Chắp Cánh Ước Mơ Scholarship Fund was officially founded by Father Phêrô Trần Quân together with his collaborators, young students who carried within them a fierce aspiration for a better Vietnamese education. This journey began with the first five scholarships, awarded to five students.
In 2014 the Chắp Cánh Ước Mơ Scholarship Fund was officially renamed the Our Lady of La Vang Scholarship Fund, with the desire to place the Scholarship under the protection and guidance of the Virgin Mary of La Vang.
The Our Lady of La Vang Scholarship is directed towards pupils and students in difficult circumstances who nevertheless strive without ceasing to become good and outstanding students. The Our Lady of La Vang Scholarship considers applications from lower secondary and upper secondary pupils and from university students. A recipient is assessed once only, and the scholarship is then awarded continuously until they graduate from university.
The distinctive feature of the Our Lady of La Vang Scholarship is that it always accompanies each recipient throughout their studies. Alongside this, the Scholarship also holds monthly and quarterly gatherings in each of the places where the recipients are studying.
The Our Lady of La Vang Scholarship consists of two main groups:
Group 1: Strategy — directly runs the Scholarship, expands the network of benefactors, organises fundraising programmes and reviews scholarship applications each year.
Group 2: Collaborators — made up of young people or students who assist the strategy group in running the Scholarship and who directly deliver training, career orientation and soft-skills programmes and accompany the recipients.
Bound together by a spiritual thread, the Board of Administration, the volunteers and the scholarship recipients each day pray one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be for the Scholarship. The Our Lady of La Vang Scholarship dreams of linking everyone who cares deeply about Vietnamese education into a single network, to help pupils and students achieve their dreams.