From Hanoi
to Global Change
The journey of Nguyen Duc Nam — scholar, social entrepreneur, and advocate for inclusive education.
2020 Speech Night, John Paul College
From a Prep Course to Dux of the College
Nam arrived from Hanoi as an international student, beginning in the High School Preparation Course at John Paul International College before joining the main College in 2017.
His recollection of JPC is adorned with treasured memories — but one moment in a Specialist Mathematics class stands above the rest. Struggling with a complex differential equation, Nam asked for help and watched, amazed, as his entire class rallied around him to find the answer together. Grateful for the guidance of his teacher, Leanne Blood, that day will always hold a special place in his heart.
Living with an Australian homestay family became an enriching experience — they swiftly became his second family, supporting him through his struggles and celebrating his achievements. Navigating life in a new country instilled in Nam invaluable lessons about responsibility and independence. When the time came to choose a path, the JPC Careers Department — and Kristy Baldwin in particular — became his guiding light, giving him the confidence to open doors to a future filled with possibility.
“2020 taught me that even though we can’t always be together, we can always be connected.”
On finishing Year 12 through the COVID-19 lockdowns
Learning Became His Light
Studying in his second language, Nam found an Australian classroom unlike any he had known — one that prized understanding and application over rote memorisation, and where a whole class would rally around one struggling student until the answer came.
There he discovered a truth that would shape everything: with the right support, any mind can shine. It is the conviction behind the non-profit he named Ngoi Sao Sang — “Bright Star” — and behind the field he studies today. Education, he believes, is how you lift a life — and John Paul College is where that belief took root.
“I want to use my education to bridge gaps in school access among children with disabilities.”
Nguyen Duc Nam · on why he studies
Excellence Across the Board
As an international student learning in his second language, Nam’s results speak volumes about his commitment to excellence — recognised with the College’s highest academic honours.
College Awards
- Munns Prize Dux of the College
- Summa Cum Laude Highest academic distinction
- Pro Diligentia For diligence and effort
- Academic Honours Sustained excellence
Subject Prizes
- Chemistry
- English as an Additional Language
- Mathematical Methods
- Physics
- Specialist Mathematics
Financially Independent at Sixteen
“I have a huge obsession with designing and collecting jewellery.” So, still in Secondary School, Nam and his best friend launched an online fashion-jewellery business.
Nam ran the venture almost entirely online — developing and designing the website, analysing weekly data to understand the customer experience, and identifying strategies to grow sales. He reinvested the profits into trading and investment properties, becoming fully financially independent from Year Eleven.
More than a business, it became a conduit for change. Nam used the income to fund his own university studies and to start a charity for people with disabilities — raising over 5 billion VND (about AUD $310,000) across three years.
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Built it
Online Jewellery Label
Website design, data analysis and sales strategy — all self-taught, all online.
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Grew it
Trading & Property
Reinvested the profits into trading and property — lasting, independent income.
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Gave it back
AUD $310,000+ Raised
A charity for people with disabilities, funded entirely from what he built.
The Moment Everything Changed
Nam was diagnosed with ADHD, and for a long time he was ashamed of his learning difference. “I used to hate myself and all people with disabilities, thinking that we are incapable.”
In the summer of 2016 he volunteered at a disability camp in Vietnam — a camp matching students with children born differently, many of them victims of the lingering effects of Agent Orange from the Vietnam War. Some had been abandoned young; others were blind, deaf, or missing limbs. Nam was matched with a boy confined to a wheelchair by a spinal condition.
After a few sessions, the boy asked to learn more about the Trung Sisters — the ancient Vietnamese military leaders he kept seeing on TV. So Nam began teaching him history, and discovered that the boy not only grasped everything completely, but had the determination to challenge his ideas.
“Witnessing the potential for academic excellence from a child with disabilities like him shattered my self-hatred and replaced it with a passion for teaching people who also had a disability.”
— Nguyen Duc Nam
Turning a Lesson Into a Movement
A few months after the camp, in 2016, Nam founded Ngoi Sao Sang — an initiative to spark curiosity in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) for children in underrepresented communities across Vietnam, and especially for children with disabilities.
Weekly Lessons
As founder and Executive Director, Nam delivered online lessons — algebra, geometry, chemistry, physics and biology — to children, taught from local libraries.
National Recognition
By 2018 the initiative had earned recognition in the Vietnamese press for its work with underrepresented and disabled learners.
80+ Children
A team of six teachers now reaches more than 80 children — a single lesson turned into lasting, scalable impact.
“I strive to inspire others and to make people remember my lasting contribution.”
His Learning Journey
John Paul College gave Nam room to learn far beyond the classroom — to teach, to lead, and to turn knowledge into change. Follow the arc, from a bright idea in Hanoi to a young economist set on widening access to education.
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2017
Arrives at JPC
Begins the High School Preparation Course, building his English and academic footing.
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2018
National Recognition
Ngoi Sao Sang is recognised in the Vietnamese press for its work with disabled learners.
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2020
Dux of the College
The Munns Prize and Summa Cum Laude — earned through a COVID year.
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University
Sydney & Harvard
Continues his studies at the University of Sydney and Harvard University.
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Next
Education Economist
Aiming to widen access to education for all — especially children with disabilities.
An Education Economist in the Making
After a semester of an engineering scholarship at the University of Sydney, Nam realised his heart lay elsewhere. He chose to study economics and sociology, keeping alive his vision of helping children with disabilities in developing nations.
A National Crisis Line
Having worked with Lifeline in Australia, Nam is establishing a free, 24/7 crisis-assistance telephone line for Vietnam — a service the country currently lacks.
Research on Education Equity
With a friend from Harvard now at Columbia’s graduate school of education, Nam is researching education inequality in developing countries.
Education Economist
His long-term ambition: to improve access and opportunity for disabled students in developing countries — using education to promote equality.
A Night to Remember
As Nam continues his journey, his vision and perseverance promise to reshape education for countless children — ensuring a brighter, more inclusive future.
Nguyen Duc Nam · JPC Dux 2020 · Hanoi, Vietnam
Every JPC Story Starts in the Same Place
Nam began in a Brisbane classroom, just like every international student who joins us. Explore more graduate journeys — or begin your own.