Current Events

Chinese students recognized in language honor society

Elise Brown
May 6, 2013

West Linn’s chapter of the National Foreign Language Honor Society recognizes Spanish, French, Japanese and – for the first time this year – Chinese students.

“It was very special to have our first inductees,” Mary Klick, foreign language honor society coordinator, said. “I thought it was very important that the students that qualify be given the opportunity to be recognized for their efforts. They’ve worked just as hard as everyone else.”

Wen Kuo, Chinese teacher, first had to join the organization as a teacher before the individual students could be inducted. Kuo’s interest was piqued by an e-mail from the Chinese Language Association of Secondary-Elementary Schools, who sponsors the honor society. After Klick was made known of the opportunity, she filled out the paperwork for the establishment of a branch of the honor society at her school.

“I first heard about this a few years ago,” Kuo said, “but didn’t really pay much attention to it until this year. Mrs. Klick is really the person who put it all together.”

Klick admits that it wasn’t easy.

“We received the certificates practically the day before the induction,” Klick said. The ceremony, held on April 23, still ran as planned, though, with Nikki Yang, senior, leading inductees in a pledge and lighting a candle to symbolize the “hope of worldwide understanding through their work,” according to Tara Galloway, international club president and MC of the ceremony.

“With their dedication and employment of various languages, comes the first sign of global friendship and peace for us all,” Galloway said.

The inaugural West Linn Chinese Honor Society Inductees are Rochelle Biancardi, Adrienne Hohensee, Jerry Jacobs, Frederik Larson, Claire Massaro, and Daniel Tang, sophomores; Arianna Moscow, junior; Nicholas Gilmore, Dana Rost, and Nikki Yang, seniors.

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About the Contributor

Elise Brown, Co Editor-in-Chief

Elise Brown, senior, has always felt comfortable standing up and giving her opinion in front of everyone and for the most part, she enjoys it very much. That is one of the many reasons why she heads the debate team, and also why in June she earned a place in the National Speech and Debate Competition in Indianapolis.

Out of the 250 people entered in the competition, she finished 151st in the country. Before she earned her rightful place in Nationals, however, she needed to prove herself in Districts and State.

Her 10 minute long speech about socialism and its benefits took first and second in Districts and State, respectively.

“In the National competition the judges didn’t appreciate politics or controversy as much as they did in Districts and State,” Brown said. This was confirmed from one of the judges she conversed with in order to find out what she could do better.

Brown’s interest in current events started in the eighth grade. She then did the Amplifier, the high school newspaper to help communicate her ideas about the world with her fellow peers, she also did the debate team to better understand the problems throughout the world and learn how to solve them somewhat.

“Debate involves knowing what is going on in the world,” Brown said.

This year for upcoming competitions, she has a speech in the works that she feels will top her last one. This year’s speech is about interdependence inspired by the “you didn’t build that debate,” caused when President Barack Obama told business people that they did not create their businesses on their own.

Brown’s passion for debate has influenced what college she will go to, what she will study in college, and what she wants to do in her life. Brown’s goal is to graduate high school and then travel to Massachusetts and attend Wellesley College, a very well known and prestigious college, where Brown hopes to study political science.

To achieve this goal she has taken part in a number of rigorous courses and activities such as Speech and Debate, AP Government, AP Economics, Honors Law, AP English and journalism. Once Brown achieves her education goals, her next goal is to become a political commentator.

“I want to change people’s minds,” Brown said. Brown has chosen the path to become a political commentator because she believes political power lies with the media.

Brown has worked very hard throughout high school and continues to work hard through her senior year. She has taken many challenging courses to achieve her goal of going to Wellesley, and will need to continue down the very rigorous path to success to accomplish her goals.