Hamilton High School’s AP Chinese Class Secures Consecutive National Chinese Competition Titles
By William Yang
In the past few months, students in two AP Chinese classes at Hamilton High School have shown extraordinary talent and diligence during the intense preparation process for the AP exam, and have continuously achieved excellent results in national and state-wide Chinese competitions. The back-to-back wins lasting from November 2023 to March 2024 are truly remarkable.
First of all, let us review the National Primary and Secondary School Chinese Essay The competition was held at the end of October last year. The prompt students were required to analyze, “Analyze the challenges faced by individuals or groups due to their differences and discuss any injustices you have observed or experienced in your community. How can individuals, groups, or institutions foster an atmosphere that welcomes and respects everyone to address these injustices?”This demanding yet stimulating question presented a considerable challenge for high school students, requiring flawless execution of Chinese character writing and penmanship. Among nearly 600 contestants, students from the AP Chinese class at Hamilton High School distinguished themselves. Veronica Yang won the Gold Award, Gabriella Li and Wenhan Li won the Silver Award, and six students, including John Plover, won the Excellence Award. The winner of this competition, John Plover(Luo Yiqiang), is a student who has been studying at Hamilton Middle School for four years.
One of the winners of this time’s competitions, John Plover(Luo Yiqiang), is a student who has been studying at Hamilton Middle School for four years. John was deeply impacted by the experience of this competition and reflected, "Being able to write my poems in another language was an unforgettable experience for me, and I used the knowledge I learned to do something very meaningful.”
The latest encouraging news comes from March 2024. Hamilton High School once again won the National Chinese Talent Competition for Primary and Secondary Schools. Skits titled"Collection of Idioms" and"La La Land" created by the students selected by the school won first and second place in the language program of the senior division. The martial arts program performed by Richard Lin and Kevin Meng not only demonstrated solid basic martial arts skills but also presented the two students'high level of Chinese proficiency and deep understanding of Chinese culture. Their program, as well as classmate Kate Liu's ice-skating dance, obtained champion(First Place)and Third Runner-Up in the sports program, adding the icing on the cake to the school’s performance and once again demonstrating the outstanding strength of Hamilton High School's AP Chinese class.
The students of Hamilton High School also performed well in local competitions in Arizona. In the Chinese speech contest for high school students held by Arizona State University in January 2024, Hamilton High School won as champion and third place in the senior/highest division. With excellent teaching quality combined with the student’s hard work, the AP Chinese class of Hamilton High School has continuously won the championship in the National Chinese Competitions, enhancing the brilliance of the cause of Chinese education and setting a new learning standard for teachers and students throughout the school.