By Iris Ng (Class of 2021)

Fifteen young aspiring students from Developing Virtue Secondary School, Girls Division, 培德女校 went to Mission San Jose High School on March 31, 2019, to compete in the Chinese competition organized by Association of Northern California Chinese Schools 北加州中文學校聯合會 (ANCCS). The areas of competition ranged from calligraphy to writing PinYin to impromptu speech.

Many of the competitors’ mother language is Chinese and this event helps connect the competitors with their roots by interacting with other Chinese learners outside DVGS. The Chinese teachers that accompanied them on the trip reminded the fifteen competitors that winning was not the main reason or purpose of competing in this competition. However, it is an opportunity to get exposed to Chinese culture, and the experience is what really counts at the end of the day.

Nevertheless, two of our competitors won first place: Tammy Long (class of 2021) won first for typing Chinese words and Annabelle Shen (class of 2021) for Chinese Calligraphy.

Four of our students won second place: Sophia Liu (class of 2020) for translation, Vanessa Hung (class of 2020) for typing Chinese characters, Raven Li (class of 2020) for essay writing, Cindy Han (class of 2019) for comprehension.

Another four of our students won third place: Naomi Seng (class of 2022) for translation, Nina Xie (class of 2022) for public speaking, Audrey Chan (class of 2021) for impromptu speech and lastly Jia Jia Ni (class of 2022) for essay writing.¹

Congratulations to all the contestants who won and also to the others who participated for putting their best foot forward!

¹ See 2019 北加州學術比賽優勝名單 ANCCS Academic Competition list of winners (in Chinese).

Photography: Sola Long (Class of 2021)