MSJ Students Compete in Japanese Speech Contest

By: Staff Writer Iyesha Puri

 On March 4 and 5, 22 students in MSJ’s Japanese classes competed in a school wide speech contest. Students competed in their respective categories and two students from each category were selected to advance to the Bay Area Japanese Speech Contest which will take place at Lynbrook High School on March 30. The winner of the contest, sponsored by the California Association of Japanese Language Teachers (CAJLT), will receive a free airplane ticket to Japan.

Participants were split into two categories, one consisting of Japanese 1 and 2 and the other consisting of Japanese 3 and AP.

The advancing contestants from the J1/J2 category are Freshmen Charlotte Yuan and Anthea Xiao, and Senior Sagar Arun and Junior Sean Li from the J3/AP category. These four students will be giving speeches on topics ranging from family members to studying abroad.

As competitors in the most difficult category, Seniors Ananya Kumar and Charlie Su have challenged themselves and volunteered to participate in the Heritage category of the Bay Area Speech Contest. They will be giving impromptu speeches and will be competing against Japanese heritage speakers. Japanese Teacher Mariko Okamura is thrilled by this opportunity, “I feel it’s time that the MSJ Japanese classes ought to be recognized by the world”, she said.

Photo: Staff Writer Iyesha Puri