by Lucy Lu
Sophomore Nick Scott won second place in the advanced level of the Chinese Bridge Speech Contest for non-native high school students last Sunday.
To enter the competition, Scott sent in a recording of his speech on an MP3 file as well as a written copy in both English and Chinese. Mid-march, Scott was selected as one of eight finalists and was invited to compete at UMass Boston, where he gave his speech and answered questions in Chinese from a panel of judges. He also performed a Chinese song “对面的女孩看过来” (The Girl Next Door) for the talent portion of the competition.
Scott acknowledged Chinese teacher Star Lew’s help in his preparation, as she had been a judge in the past. “I didn’t know about the competition until she encouraged me to participate,” he said. “She knew what the judges were looking for in the speeches, and that helped a lot.”
Lew felt inclined to support Scott, “a motivated and unafraid student,” throughout the entire process. “Nick’s speaking and listening skills are outstanding,” she said. “He is mature enough to handle the responsibility, and in the end, he got what he deserves. I am not at all surprised.”
According to Scott, his study of Chinese has helped shape his future.
“Prior to this year, I found Chinese interesting, but I didn’t really think I was going to do more than just study it in high school.” He said, “Now I feel more inspired to continue studying it in college, and possibly even work it into my career.”
Additionally, Scott developed life skills of independence and persistence to solve problems “without the help of [his] parents” through studying Chinese.