Chapter 16 — Wind Village Robot Team

After the semester exams ended, the team's schedule returned to a more urgent schedule than ever. With only three weeks left before the official competition day, Khanh Dan divided the remaining time into small milestones posted on the warehouse wall: this week perfecting the gripper, next week solving the color discrimination problem, the last week was devoted to testing the entire process and preparing the team's presentation to the judges - an item accounting for ten percent of the total score that the whole team almost forgot about until they carefully read the rules again.

That wheel leaves no one behind. Nam and Phong spent every afternoon struggling with the gripper mechanism, breaking it over and over again countless times. Gia Han stays up late writing and rewriting commands to process sensor signals so that the robot reacts quickly enough without interference. As for Uyen Nhi, in addition to redrawing the entire diagram every time there is a change, she is now also assigned the task of composing a short introduction about the team's formation process, used for the opening presentation of the competition - a task that when assigned, no one on the team, including Khanh Dan, anticipated it would become such a heavy challenge for the youngest girl.

"Can you explain to me, on what principle did you draw this diagram?"

The questioner was an officer of the Bac Nguyen STEM Center, named Hung, who came to check on the preparation status of the registered teams in the area - a surprise, unannounced visit, causing the whole team to frantically clean up the warehouse just ten minutes before he entered. He stood in front of the Uyen Nhi drawing board stuck on the wall, his pen tapping lightly on the cover as if waiting.

Uyen Nhi stood still, her hands clasped tightly behind her back. The girl had practiced explaining circuit diagrams with Khanh Dan dozens of times, knowing every sentence by heart, but as soon as she was faced with a stranger wearing glasses, holding a notebook, and looking at him with professional eyes, all the words in her mind suddenly disappeared.

"Yes... yes I..." She stammered, her face was red, her breathing was rapid. "This is… the control circuit… it…"

She stopped, unable to say another word, her hands began to shake. The whole team stood behind and looked at each other worriedly, no one dared to speak up for fear of making Uyen Nhi even more confused.

"It's okay, take your time." Uncle Hung said in a gentle voice, trying to make the girl feel more comfortable. But that encouraging statement, ironically, made Uyen Nhi feel even more pressured, because it confirmed that she was performing so poorly that she needed reassurance.

"I... I'm sorry." Uyen Nhi said, her voice choked, then turned and ran straight out of the warehouse, leaving the whole group standing and looking on in shock.

Khanh Dan wanted to run after her immediately, but she was able to hold back, turned to apologize to Uncle Hung, briefly explained that the student was still young and not used to interacting with strangers, then asked Gia Han to continue the technical explanation instead. Only after Uncle Hung left, took down all the necessary information and seemed satisfied with the rest of the team's presentation, did Khanh Dan rush to find Uyen Nhi.

She found the little girl sitting huddled behind an almond tree in the corner of the school yard, her knees pulled up close to her chest, her face buried in her arms. Khanh Dan sat down next to her, didn't say anything right away, just let Uyen Nhi cry for a while longer.

"I'm sorry." Uyen Nhi spoke last, her voice stuffy. "I ruined everything. I embarrassed the whole team in front of the officer."

"I didn't ruin anything." Khanh Dan spoke softly. "I'm just nervous, everyone is like that sometimes."

"It's not just nervousness, miss." Uyen Nhi looked up, her eyes were red. "I... I think I'm not suitable for this team. Phong knows how to fix machines, Nam knows mechanics, Gia Han knows programming. I only know how to draw, but what's the use of drawing if when it comes time to make others understand, I can't say a word?"

Khanh Dan was silent for a moment, considering her answer. She understood this was not the time to give general words of encouragement.

"Do you remember the first time I saw your sketchbook?" she asked.

Uyen Nhi nodded and said nothing.

"At that time, our team had Phong who knew how to fix machines, and Nam who knew mechanics, but none of them could draw a diagram for others to see and immediately understand what to install where. I still remember, it was your accurately measured curve drawing that helped the robot overcome the most difficult part, while before that the whole team tried and failed three times in a row." Khanh Dan said, her voice firm. "Not being able to speak out loud in front of a stranger doesn't mean you don't understand. It just means you're not used to speaking in front of strangers, those two things are completely different."

"But when it comes time for the real competition, there will be hundreds of people watching." Uyen Nhi said, her voice shaking again. "What if I just stand still like that?"

That's exactly the question Khanh Dan didn't have an immediate answer to, because she didn't dare to promise anything unrealistic. She sat still for a moment, looking out at the deserted schoolyard, the wind still blowing gently through the canopy.

"I don't promise that you will completely stop being afraid." She said finally. "I used to give a presentation in front of hundreds of people at my old company, and to this day my heart still beats fast every time I step up to the podium. But I've learned how to let that fear not get in my way anymore. I think if you want, we can practice together, a little every day, not to get rid of the fear, but to get used to that feeling, just like you get used to holding a pen."

Uyen Nhi was silent, wiping her tears with her sleeve, thinking.

"But what if I practice and still can't do it?" The girl asked, her voice small but less shaky.

"Then I'll find another way." Khanh Dan replied directly. "Sometimes it's not me who stands up and says everything, but me and another person presenting together, the other person says the lyrics, I illustrate with drawings directly on the board while the other person speaks. There's no rule that one person has to do everything, Uyen Nhi. That's why our team has four people, not one."

Uyen Nhi looked up at her, a small ray of light flashed through her still wet eyes. "Do you think I can do it?"

"I don't know for sure." Khanh Dan is honest, does not want to make empty promises. "But you know the only way to find out is to try."

Uyen Nhi nodded, slowly but more firmly than her trembling nod in front of the official camera just now. She stood up, dusted off her pants, and before they both returned to the warehouse, she looked back to ask one more question, her voice almost back to normal.

"Miss, did that officer write in the book today that our team was weak?"

Khanh Dan laughed, a rare laugh of relief after a stressful afternoon. "I can't read his notebook. But I think, if he sees Gia Han presenting the technical part fluently as soon as you run out, he will only think that our team has people who know how to support each other in difficult times, not a weak team."

Uyen Nhi smiled, the first smile since running out of the warehouse, and they both walked towards the small room, where the other three people were still waiting, no one blamed them, only Nam held up a glass of filtered water when he saw Uyen Nhi walk in, said nothing, just pushed the glass of water towards her as a clumsy but sincere way of comforting him that he knew.

From that evening, the last fifteen minutes of each activity were reserved for Uyen Nhi to practice speaking. At first, the girl just stood with her back to the group, rereading the exact words written in the notebook, her voice as monotonous as chanting. Gradually, following Khanh Dan's suggestion, the girl learned to speak and point to the illustrated diagram, so that the listener's attention would focus on the drawing instead of focusing on her tense face. By the end of the second week, Uyen Nhi was able to turn around and look straight at the three friends on the team when speaking, her voice still trembled a bit in the first sentences, but no longer stammered to the point of having to run away in the middle of the sentence like the afternoon she met Uncle Hung.

"Still shaking, but I can hear it." Nam commented after Uyen Nhi finished practicing, his characteristic curt compliment but enough to make her blush with joy.

"There are three more weeks left to practice." Khanh Dan said, closing her notebook. "There's no need to be perfect right away, just having each week be a little better than the previous week is enough."

That night, when she returned to the dormitory, Khanh Dan reopened her work notebook, adding a new line to the list of things to prepare before the exam day: "Prepare plan B for the presentation — if Uyen Nhi is still nervous, split the presentation in half with Gia Han." She underlined that line twice, not because she lacked confidence in her young student, but because she had learned from her own mistakes at NovaTech that a good plan always needs a way back, so that when things don't go as expected, no one on the team has to stand alone in the middle of the stage.