Of Note

Nathan Jorgensen and David Hunsaker were some of the only students who had never actually been to China at the recent Chinese Bridge Speech Competition at the University of Maryland, but that didn’t stop them from winning. Nathan, who learned Chinese on his mission in Montreal, Canada, and David, who learned his Chinese on his mission in Singapore and Malaysia, represented BYU at this regional and highly competitive speech competition sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Education.

Participating students were required to present a three-minute, memorized speech in Chinese; present a Chinese cultural talent; and answer four randomly drawn trivia questions in Chinese (out of 250 memorized questions). Nathan sang a traditional Chinese children’s song, and David played the piano and sang a well-known Chinese pop song.

After a tight struggle and with a score of 99.1, David won first place in the competition, only a half point ahead of the second-place student from Georgetown University. This was the first time BYU has won the competition after nine consecutive years of competing. Nathan took third place.

Representatives from the Chinese Embassy inWashington, DC, were there for the competition, and they hosted a reception for the participants that eveningwhere David was asked to sing again. Those from the Embassy were very impressed by the BYU students.

Because of his first place win, David will now go onto compete at an international Chinese speech competition in Beijing, China. The competition will include about 120 students from approximately 80 countries. David and Nathan give the credit to the Lord for His help in learning their mission languages, and to the wonderful faculty and staff in the Chinese program at BYU. They especially thank Professor Wang Shu-pei, who arranged their participation in the competition and offered help and  encouragement. David said of his experience, “This was such a wonderful opportunity, and I hope it will be the first of many wins for BYU at the Chinese Bridge Speech Competition.”