​RWU Students Claim First, Third Place in National Chinese Language Competition

BRISTOL, R.I. – Two RWU students recently placed first and third at the 16th Chinese Bridge East USA Preliminary for College Students and 7th Chinese Bridge Speech Contest for University Students in New England held at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Hosted by the Confucius Institute at UMass Boston, the competition is open to current college students from non-Chinese speaking families and students who did not grow up in Chinese-speaking areas. Students are broken up into three groups for the competition according to their time and experience learning Chinese.

RWU's Galen Shrand ’18, a political science major and east Asian studies minor, took home first place in the intermediate group as “The Best Speech Presenter.” Ye Lin Aung ‘17, an architecture and graphic design double major, placed third in the advanced group. Both were among 22 finalists from local and national colleges and universities. They delivered their speeches in Chinese, answered questions from the judges in Chinese and performed a talent show.

Additionally, Shrand was selected as one of six winners to join the Hainan Airlines Sponsored Confucius Institute Cultural Ambassador China Trip in June for 10 days, with all expenses covered by Hainan Airlines and the Confucius Institute Hainan Airlines Cultural Ambassadors.

It was the first time that RWU participated in the competition.

“Galen and Ye Lin showed interest and were willing to spend time and effort in writing essays and practicing for the contest,” said RWU Associate Professor Min Zhou. “They worked tirelessly with Adjunct Professor Yao Bian and were wonderful students for the contests.”