On April 21, 2018, I went to the University of Maryland to compete in the 11th Annual Chinese Bridge Speech Contest for High School and Middle School kids.

This was the official Hanban and Confucius Institute contest for these states:  Utah, Tennessee, Maryland, Idaho, Montana, Virginia, West Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Nebraska, Wyoming and Washington DC.

I worked hard to get ready for the competition with my teachers, Dr. Yan Gao, Dr. Xun Lio,  and Sharon Meng.

We all drew straws and I got number 8, which is considered a lucky number in China!
I then did my speech, called “My Adventures in China”:

Then, I did a performance, which was 30% of the score. I chose the song “Ta Lang:”

After all the kids finished their speeches and performances, the judges tallied the scores. I was the very last person called, which was nerve-wracking! But, the good news is that I won!!

I had a great time and met so many wonderful new friends. Thank you to Rebecca McGinnis and Jianxin Cui from the University of Maryland Confucius Institute! All the other kids did really well also, it must have been hard to choose a winner!