Results from the Second Austin Regional Japanese Language Speech Contest 2010

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The Japan-America Society of Greater Austin hosted the 2nd Austin Regional Contest on February 13, 2010 in collaboration with the Annual Texas Japanese Speech Contest, the statewide competition for students and adults at all levels in Japanese language and culture.

A total of forty-two contestants presented poetry recitations and insightful, creative speeches. Listed below are the names of the top three winners in each of Divisions I through V. 

Division I: Poetry Recitation -All Middle Students and High School students at novice level
  1st Place: Argudo, Fernanda   アルグド フェルナンダ　  LASA  HS
  2nd Place: Mills, Lianna   ミルズ リアンナ       　 Fulmore MS
  3rd Place: Park, Mariah   パーク マライア          LASA  HS

Division II: Poetry Recitation - High School students at intermediate level
1st Place: Buehler, Elizabeth  ビューラー エリザベス  LASA  HS
2nd Place: Bendich, Nathan  ベンディック ネーサン  LASA  HS
3rd Place: DeSantiago, Ana  ディサンティアゴ アナ  LASA  HS

Division III: Free Speech - Middle and High School students at intermediate level
1st Place: Ortiz, Alfred   オーティズ アルフレッド  McCallum HS
2nd Place: Woldman, Anne   ヲルドマン アン  LASA  HS
3rd Place:  Shen, Megan   シェン メーガン  LASA  HS

Division IV: Free Speech - High School students at intermediate level and/or above
1st Place: Brotherton, Ailie  ブラザートン エイリー   LASA HS
2nd Place: Guernsey, Hannah  グエンジィー ハンナ   Austin  HS
3rd Place: Wagner, Ryan  ワーグナー　ライアン   Austin  HS

Division V: Free Speech - College students and Adults
1st Place: Pujara, Jaladhi   プジャラ ジャラディ  ACC (Ex UTAustin)
2nd Place: Liu, JaiHau (Jack)   リュー ジャック  Adult
3rd Place: Wang, Jennifer   ワン ジェニファー  UT Austin

All contestants received the Japanese Certificate (Shojou) for participation in the speech contest.
The top three winners received the Japan-America Society of Greater Austin (JASGA) Trophy.
The first-place winners in Divisions III, IV and V received the Seiko Prize with an electronic Japanese-English/English-
Japanese dictionary.
The first-place winners of Div I & II and the second-place winners of Divisions I-V received a Japanes-English/English-
Japanese dictionary.

JASGA would like to thank each of the contestants for their participation.
 
During the intermission and while the judges discussed the selection of winners, there were a guest speaker
presentation and two violin pieces presented by:
Fernandez, Meg Yuuki   フェルナンデス メグ優貴  Canyon Vista MS and AJS 
Wozniak, Audrey  ヲズニアク オードリィ   St. Stephen's Episcopal HS 
 
We'd like to express our appreciation to the following eight Judges for the competition:
Ms. Yoshiko Fujii, Baylor University 
Ms. Asayo Hartwig, Austin Japanese School (Austin Hoshuko) 
Ms. Junko Hatanaka,   The University of Texas at Austin 
Dr. Yuriko Kiguchi, Kumon Westlake 
Ms. Kaori Kitta,   Austin Japanese School (Austin Hoshuko) 
Mr. Toshio Nishida,  AISD (McCallum HS, Kealing MS) 
Dr. Theresa Oh,   Austin Community College  
Ms. Emi Schuster,   AISD (Fulmore MS), Austin Community College
 
We'd also like to express our appreciation to our Award Presenters: 
Dr. Michael Hydak,  Director, Languages Other Than English (LOTE), TX Education Agency
Dr. Takeshi Udagawa,  Sr Advisor, JASGA & Professor Emeritus at University of Texas at Austin
 
We were delighted that all of you could share your time with us and thank you so much for your warm encouragement
of the contestants.
 
This speech contest was made possible with the support of Austin Independent School District (AISD), Asahi Imports,
and Seiko Instruments, Inc., in partnership with the Consulate-General of Japan at Houston, the Austin Japan
Association (AJA), and the Austin Japanese School (AJS).