Congratulations to MKA's US students who were the first runner-up in the 10th Annual Chinese Cultural Project Contest!
On Saturday, April 16, twelfth-graders Isaiah Kramer, Jordan Schildkraut, Priya Kapoor, and tenth-grader Sophia Ward traveled to Seton Hall University to compete in the 10th Annual Chinese Cultural Project Contest, co-hosted by the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at Seton Hall and the New Jersey Chinese Studies Foundation. The MKA team qualified for the final round out of a pool of more than twenty schools from all over the state. Among the seven finalists, MKA placed first runner-up, earning a trophy, a certificate and a grant award.
This year the competition topic was "Differences in Culture of Sports and Athletic Activities in America and China." The MKA team focused on college recruitment and developed a formal methodology to guide their research, including several months of interviews with professional athletes in China, as well as MKA students and parents, in order to study the similarities and differences in college recruitment between China and the US. For their final presentation during the competition, the students delivered a Prezi entitled "A Tradition of Athleticism: Relaxation and Rejuvenation," performed a five-part skit (including a Tai Chi demonstration) and simulated a traditional Chinese talk show.
Prof. Richard Simmons, Chair of the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at Rutgers University, Prof. Edwin Leung from Seton Hall University, Dr. Han Luo from Lafayette College, the three judges for competition, as well as Prof. Dongdong Chen, from Seton Hall University, Chair of New Jersey Chinese Studies Foundation, all highly praised the MKA team for its strong proficiency in Chinese, its understanding and insight into Chinese culture and its efforts to present the project in a fun and exciting way.
US Chinese teacher Dr. River He stated proudly: "This is a tremendous feat for our non-heritage Chinese students, to compete and win at this competition in which most of the participants are from Chinese families. The MKA students showed me how committed they are to learning other cultures and how much they value their experience of learning Chinese to broaden their global vision. I appreciate how much the students put into this, and I am so thankful to Mr. David Hessler for teaching the students Tai Chi, to Dr. John Jacobs for helping us with the research proposal, and to Ms. Fangzhou Zhang for giving us invaluable advice. This is a team success for MKA students, teachers and parents."