Student leadership is crucial, especially for international schools like ISPH. We believe that students gain decision-making and self-assertiveness skills through modelling and role-playing. As students begin to take on leadership roles, they develop their communication, negotiation, listening, perseverance, problem-solving, and teamwork skills. Research shows that students who regularly practise such skills become more self-assured. To learn more about student leadership at ISPH, join us as we speak with Ha Anh and Nam Anh, the new Head Students for the 2023–2024 academic year.
Hello, can you introduce yourself?
Ha Anh (HA): Hello, my name is Ha Anh, and I’m ISPH Head Girl for this year.
Nam Anh (NA): Hi, my name is Nam Anh, and I’m this year’s Head Boy. I’m in Year 12, and I have just joined ISPH at the beginning of this school year.
How did it feel to be Head Boy/Head Girl?
NA: I felt really honoured to be given this opportunity to lead the Student Council. This is my first time experiencing such a noble position, but I will definitely give my best efforts to represent the school and create a better environment for all students.
HA: Even though I was a Head Girl before, it still feels special to me because this is such a prestigious role that we have been trusted with, and it is a little bit pressuring – obviously. But we both will try our best to be the best Head Students.
What does this mean to you personally?
HA: It is a very special place to be because it is such an important leadership role. It gives me the opportunity to hone my skills and broaden my horizons in terms of what it means to be a leader and be the best leader that I can be because leadership is such an important quality to have.
Why did you want to become Head Boy/Head Girl in the first place?
HA: As I have mentioned, I was a Head Girl before now, and I really enjoyed that time. It gave me the opportunity to be closer not just to my year group and secondary school, but also to connect the primary students together and create a closer whole school community. I really wanted to be a Head Girl again to be a better version of myself, try to introduce new events, and make the school an overall happier place for all students, so that they will look forward to coming to school every single day.
NA: For me, it mainly is because I’m a new student, so I think becoming the Head Student would be the best way to get to know the school. I also believe that ISPH would give me a lot of opportunities to improve my skills, and this is an overall great environment for me to gain my education so I just want to do something to give back to the school, and being Head Boy would allow me to do that.
Since you mentioned that you want to give back to ISPH by being the Head Student, what changes would you bring to the school and the students?
NA: Well, I have just been in the school for a few weeks, but I have already noticed some issues in terms of communication among students, between students and teachers. For example, I think secondary school and primary school are pretty separated right now, with not many connections. Many students from a year group only talk amongst themselves, and they barely interact with other year groups. I hope that by organising whole school events, I can manage to connect the year groups and make our school more cohesive.
HA: About me, I really value the well-being of students. Like I said, I really want them to feel excited about going to school. I think this could be done by introducing events at school, especially our annual spirit weeks, to bring more fun. This spirit week might include a secondary school sleepover or activities that could be applied to both secondary and primary students.
Nam Anh Nguyen
Year 12 Student
Head Boy AY 23/24
Now let’s talk about student leadership. What do you think is the significance of having a Head Boy/Head Girl in an international school like ISPH?
HA: I think it’s important because we are the oldest year group in the school, and younger students really look up to us. We are much older than them, and we even dress differently, so they might see us as adults. Head Students act as role models, and we should try to inspire younger students to be the best version of themselves, to open up and be more confident, while we act as relatable older brothers and sisters that they can look up to. And also, we ought to make sure that not only us, but other students in our year group and secondary school can become role models for primary students.
NA: I also believe that especially for international schools like ISPH, there is a lot of diversity. We have students from different parts of the world, so when they move to Vietnam and enter this environment, they still haven’t been familiar with our culture. As a Head Student, I think it is our responsibility to make sure that our school feels like home to them and make them feel comfortable. We might introduce more cultural activities to make the learning environment feel more comfortable.
And lastly, what qualities do you think a good Head Boy/Head Girl should possess?
NA: I believe that the key thing to becoming a leader is that you have to be confident in your own decisions. First of all, because you’re leading an entire team of people, it is important that you believe what you’re doing is right. There are other people who are working with you and following your lead, so you have to believe in yourself for them to believe in you. If a leader doesn’t believe in his own decisions, who else will? The second important quality in my opinion is resilience – the process of failing, never giving up, and trying again and again. I think it is essential because no one is perfect, especially when you’re leading a team – there is a lot that can affect the process, so it is important to come up with a solution and try everything possible, you might fail and fail, but you just have to come back stronger.
HA: For me, I think one of the qualities of leaders is respect because respect can take you a long way. For instance, in team meetings, you should respect others’ opinions while brainstorming, and that’s how you get other people to speak up. Some can be a little bit shy, especially the younger ones, so they need to know that you respect them and their opinions to speak up and share their thoughts. Respect also comes in handy when you’re interacting with older people – like teachers and staff in school, and as I mentioned before, it is good manners to have so the younger students can look up to us. Respect can help with connecting and bonding when working in a team because teamwork is not just going to meetings, and doing this and that, teamwork is having fun with each other and enjoying each other’s company. It is that chemistry between people in a team that I find really special, so I think that respect can take you to all of that.
Any last words you wanted to share?
HA: In one of my favourite movies, a wise person said: “With great power comes great responsibility.” I think that Head Students are really big roles that we’re taking on, so Nam Anh and I will be trying our best to fulfil them and not disappoint the people who have trusted us.
Thank you both for the interview!
