On Saturday, February 10, 2018, Japanese language learners from across the Houston region came together at the University of St. Thomas to compete in the 29th Annual Japanese Language Speech Contest.
Thirty-eight (38) contestants demonstrated their Japanese skills in the areas of (i) POETRY RECITATION, (ii) HAIKU, (iii) FREE SPEECH WITH TEXT, (iv) FREE SPEECH AURORA, and (v) FREE SPEECH COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY.
"Otsukaresama" to all participants and "omedetou" to all winners.
Winners are listed below by division. Those placing in the top two will move on to the TEXAS STATE JAPANESE LANGUAGE SPEECH CONTEST, which will be held on March 10, 2018.
POETRY
1. Thomas Kaldahl – 10th, William P. Clements High School
2. Simone Lim – 10th, Bellaire High School
3. Kievencia Dougé – 11th, Morton Ranch High School
HAIKU
1. Yinuo Chen – 11th, Bellaire High School
2. Thomas Girardet – 10th, Bellaire High School
3. Emily Wong – 10th, William P. Clements High School
FREE SPEECH WITH TEXT
1. Guido Brevi – 10th, Clements High School
2. Dante Stramber – 11th, Bellaire High School
3. Natalia Garcia-Sanchez – 10th, George Bush High School
FREE SPEECH AURORA
1. Alice Liu – 11th, Bellaire High School
2. Jiaqi Zhu – 12th, Bellaire High School
3. Joel Mina – 12th, Morton Ranch High School
FREE SPEECH COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY
1. Christopher Bogaev – Junior, Texas A & M University
2. Leyla Kilci – Sophomore, Houston Community College
3. Vivian Zhang – Senior, Rice University
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Consulate-General of Japan in Houston
