Students in our Chinese Program walked away with almost all the first and second prizes in the regional Midwest Chinese Bridge Speech Contest at Northwestern University this May. In fact, every ALL student sent to the competition placed either first or second. There were fifty-five contestants from nine Midwest universities in the competition. Joel Brown, first prize winner in the third level, will be one of the two representatives from our region sent to compete in the world-wide speech contest in Beijing, China later this year.
Each contestant presented a short prepared speech (without referring to notes), and then performed a Chinese cultural talent. The students in our program presented a variety of talents such as: singing, dancing, performing a short play, and acting out a talk show. Each competitor's final score was based on their weighted combination of the speech (80%) and the talent (20%). The competition was judged by high-school teachers from the Chicago, IL, area.
Pictured left to right: Joshua Quinn, Luke Jerviss, Ling Wang, Chi-ping Li, Yefei Jin, James Thomas Lein, Joseph Carl, Joel Brown
The winners are:
1st-year:
- Joshua Quinn (first prize)
- Joseph Carl (first prize)
- James Thomas Lein (second prize)
2nd-year:
- Luke Jerviss (first prize)
- Joel Brown (first prize)
3rd-year:
- Yefei Jin (second prize)
4th-year heritage student:
This is the third consecutive year ALL Chinese Program students have been successful in the Midwest Regional Chinese Bridge competition and sending a representative to participate in Worldwide Chinese Bridge competition in China. This continued success is due to the students' talents and hard work, as well as the leadership of the Chinese Program's Director Dr. Ling Wang and the continuous dedication of Chi-ping Li and the rest of the team of Chinese language instructors teaching at the University of Minnesota.
Arrangements for trip to Northwestern University were supported by the Confucius Institute and the Department of Asian Languages and Literatures.
