Hiram in Hanoi

Yesterday was my first excursion talking about Hiram College as an admission representative here.  It had been years since I had done any admission-related activity on the road, and I had never done any international recruiting events, so I wasn't sure what to expect.

My day started early, since the company organizing the Fair -- VNIS -- had made arrangements for college representatives to visit two Vietnamese high schools.  So, at 6 am I left my apartment and climbed into a taxi to the Melia Hotel, where I met seven other representatives from universities across the United States, plus a representative from the Israeli Embassy trying to talk up the possibility of Vietnamese students studying in Israel.

We boarded a bus and headed out to Ly Thai Tho High School, where the whole school was going to have an assembly and hear from us (Vietnamese students go to school half-day on Saturdays).  Here we are getting ready for the outdoor assembly:

A picture of Ho Chi Minh watched over us, as did a special banner welcoming the eight universities to the school:

After we met with a few students in the courtyard, we were invited to meet with the principal and assisnat principal, and to present gifts.  Interestingly enough, the male admission people were told they needed to present to the assistant principal because she was a woman, while the female admission counselors presented to the male principal:

We then went to a private high school, Nguyen Binh Khiem, and met with their administration and also presented gifts.  This school appeared to be very interested in sending their students -- and faculty -- to the United States.  Although we did not meet individually with students, we did get a tour of the school and saw some of the facilities:

Me with the Assistant Principal, who had studied in the United States:

This is the teacher's lounge, which includes a fully stocked bar.  I'm not making that up:

The trophy room of the school, which includes both academic and sports trophies, as well as a history of the school:

The library.  Sadly, I think we have more books at our home in Hiram than are provided in this library:

A science classroom.  I liked that there were two posters in the corner, one of Albert Einstein and one of Isaac Newton:

After our visits we had a little time to kill, so I walked from the hotel to the Old Quarter.  Along the way, I stumbled across St. Joseph's Cathedral in Hanoi.  It was beautiful:

The college fair itself in the afternoon was very beneficial -- I felt like I spoke non-stop for three hours.  I also had a great high school volunteer help me -- Mai -- who helped translate and is a great student.  She wants to attend Pomona in California but had done her homework about Hiram and could speak very well about it.  And it turns out she lives right down the street from us, so I'm sure we'll see her again.