TESTIMONIAL

BILAL PAZIR

• Former student of San Antonio's Winston Churchill High School
• 2015 All USA High School Japanese Speech Contest Winner
• 2015 JSA International High School Japanese Language 2nd Place Winner

If I had been told that one day a speech I gave would take me across the country, and even to Japan, I would have never believed it.  My speech, The Kizuna Project That Changed My Life, lived up to its name again and gave me some of the most priceless experiences of my life and helped to create wonderful memories that I will always treasure. 

Among those great memories was the international speech contest held in the town of Masaki-cho, located in Ehime Prefecture, Japan.  The international speech contest was during the summer of 2015, and I, along with the other high school students from around the world, had the opportunity to say our speeches in front of hundreds of Japanese high school students.  My time in Japan was much more than just the speech contest, however.  Throughout my trip I had countless unique experiences, saw places I had never seen before and made everlasting friendships.

These friendships are what fuel my passion to continue learning Japanese.  To me, learning Japanese is like a bridge that I continue building as I learn.  I have to keep learning Japanese to work on this bridge in order to properly get my thoughts and feelings across it.  My ultimate goal is to achieve a level of fluency in which I can communicate with friends and others in ease, and I am confident I can reach that level thanks to the motivation that my friendships give me.  I encourage others to find something that motivates them to learn, and to make sure it means a great deal to them so they constantly have something that pushes them toward their goal.