On the 16th of August, two students from St Mary’s College, Maxine De Leon and Denisa Rathod, competed in the Fourteenth Annual Wellington Regional Japanese Speech Competition, hosted at Wellington College. This is a great opportunity for students from Year 9 to University level to showcase their Japanese language knowledge. This was attended by the Japanese ambassador, Makoto Osawa, and many other members of the New Zealand Japanese language community.

Both of our students came out with first place in their categories. Maxine De Leon won 1st place in the Year 11 category with her speech about how making friends with Japanese speakers has grown her Japanese skills. Denisa Rathod won 1st place in the Year 13 category with her speech about how she would be the best Prime Minister for New Zealand.

We are very proud of these students for putting themselves out there and sharing their stories and ideas in Japanese.