NWS Chinese Program receives Awards
- 01/15/2026
- Category: Featured Awards & Recognitions
Northwest's Upper School students in the Chinese Program participated in the 2025 national Why Learn Languages competition, an annual event that promotes multilingual education to empower youth, raise cultural awareness, and enrich cross-disciplinary learning.
Students across the country submitted more than 620 essays and videos highlighting how learning languages fosters connection and understanding.
Yi Wang, who teaches Chinese in the Modern Languages department, was honored with the Outstanding Contribution Award.
Four NWS students received Honorable Mention for demonstrating strong language skills, cultural understanding, and genuine enthusiasm for learning languages:
- Susu H. (Class of '26) in the Essay Category
- Keefe S. (Class of '25) in the Video Category
- Amara W. and Eliza D. (both Class of '25) in the Video Category
These experiences help students feel proud of their language learning, build confidence, and connect with Chinese culture in meaningful ways.
"This contest gives students a chance to showcase language skills and cultural knowledge gained in class," says Yi Wang, "including calligraphy, cooking, pen pal projects, and festival celebrations."
Mercy Hume, Modern Languages Department Chair, echoes this sentiment. "Susu's essay award and Yi Wang's Outstanding Contribution Award are important achievements for Northwest students and our whole Chinese language program," she observes, "because they exemplify our uniquely creative approach to language instruction: encouraging students to pursue their passion for languages as they participate in cultural practices to build belonging, understanding, and connection."
She connects this recognition and honor to signature Northwest values and academic opportunities, including our global learning and study abroad opportunities.
"This contest helped me reflect on my successes and struggles in learning Mandarin," she shares. "And this is especially meaningful to me as an adopted Taiwanese girl. In class, we learn not only language rules and vocabulary, but also Chinese culture: art, calligraphy, festivals, food, and we also have a pen pal project. These classes enabled me to have basic conversations when I visited Taiwan."
