Six of our Mandarin students participated in the 2013 BC Mandarin Speech Contest for University Students held at BCIT Downtown campus today. They were Bill Brooks and Tessa Lee from Mand 2201, Zeenat Dhami and Jennifer Hoff from Mand 1101, Jonathan Hoff from Mand 1100 and Bjorn Jivung from Mand 3301. This is the largest contingent from Kwantlen ever in the 12-year history of the speech contest.
Out of 73 contestants from BC universities and colleges including UBC, SFU, UVIC, our Kwantlen students did very well. Jennifer Hoff won the 3rd Prize in the Non-Heritage Beginner Category (29 contestants in total), winning a plaque as well as a cash award.
What is even more amazing is Bjorn Jivung's story. Bjorn competed last year in the Non-heritage Beginner Category and got the first place. This year, he is still qualified for the Non-heritage Beginner Catetory based on the Qualification Criteria set by the Contest Committee. Instead of taking this easy and familiar route, Bjorn said that he wanted to challenge himself and wanted to compete in the higher, also the highest, group. With the permission of the Contest Committee, he did sign up for the Non-heritage Intermediate and Advanced Category. After hours of practice and numerous office hours visits, Bjorn made it again today: he won the much coveted 3rd Prize in the highly competitive Non-heritage Intermediate and Advanced Category.
Congratulations to all the participants: you all represented Kwantlen and our Department very well. We are very pleased with as well as proud of your accomplishments. Keep up the good work!