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Four students studying Korean in the School of Modern Languages won awards at the Fifth Annual Southeastern United States Korean Speech-Quiz Contest. The annual competition includes students from seven Southeastern universities: Duke University, Emory University, Georgia State University, Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, the University of North Georgia, and Vanderbilt University. 

Georgia State co-hosted this year’s virtual contest with the Korean Education Center in Atlanta on April 16, 2022. Students were divided into heritage or non-heritage speakers, with three proficiency levels at the non-heritage level and two at the heritage level. Twenty-three students competed in the five levels of the contest.

Lina Rhazi, a first-year aerospace engineering major with a minor in Korean, won first place in the non-heritage level one category. Her speech was titled “What I felt While Learning Korean.”

“I am grateful I had the opportunity to be a part of this enriching competition. Participating allowed me to hear about other people's Korean learning journey and feed my own perseverance in learning this beautiful language,” Rhazi said.

Noelle Watkins is a first-year civil engineering major who plans to add a second major in Korean and a minor in Chinese to her studies. She won second place in the non-heritage level two category for her presentation titled “Analyzing my Growing Relationship with an Ajummah.”

“I wanted to participate in the contest because I wanted to challenge myself — could I move an audience in a language that I’m not native in? Writing a speech in a language different from my mother tongue was difficult yet very rewarding,” Watkins said.

Yoon Ji Cho, a first-year computer science major hoping to minor in Korean, won first place in the heritage level one for her speech, "Why I Want to Learn Korean.”

“For me, this contest was an honest first step towards reconnecting with the Korean language after realizing its importance to me as a heritage speaker,” Cho said.

Rachel Hudson, a third-year Korean major, won the Quiz Bowl, which challenges students with questions about traditional and pop culture in Korea, as well as linguistic questions.

“Since I’m studying abroad in Korea right now, the Quiz Bowl solidified for me what I’ve learned beyond language acquisition by being here,” Hudson said. “There were some questions I only knew the answers to from instances I have encountered while studying abroad.”

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