Campus Digest

Visual Arts student wins second prize at national English speaking competition

13 Apr 2017

Visual Arts student Rainbow Kwok wins the second prize at the semi-final of the “21st Century Coca-Cola Cup” National English Speaking Competition in China. Visual Arts student Rainbow Kwok wins the second prize at the semi-final of the “21st Century Coca-Cola Cup” National English Speaking Competition in China.
Visual Arts student Rainbow Kwok wins the second prize at the semi-final of the “21st Century Coca-Cola Cup” National English Speaking Competition in China.

 

Rainbow Kwok (Visual Arts, Year 4) won the second prize at the semi-final of the 22nd China Daily “21st Century Coca-Cola Cup” National English Speaking Competition held in Nanjing, China. She competed with contestants from over 60 universities in Hong Kong, Macau and Mainland China. After a prepared speech, an impromptu speech, followed by question and answer sessions, she went on to win the prize. 

 

Rainbow said it was a great honour for her to represent HKBU in the competition during her final year of study. She said: “I was nervous but excited about meeting and competing with so many elite students from top universities in Mainland China. The experience has broadened my horizons, and enabled me to learn from others and make new friends.” 

 

This was the first time she participated in a public speaking contest. She said she believes that the people skills she gained in manning booth counters during the various international art fairs helped her manage nervousness in public speaking. As most of the contestants are English majors, Rainbow was grateful to be a contestant with a major in Visual Arts.

 

She recalled the experience, saying: “Being up on the big stage standing under the spotlight and facing around 200 people in the audience was not easy. The night before the contest, I felt nervous but then I told myself that I have nothing to lose. I had come all the way to the semi-final stage, representing my university, competing with the best students in China. In a sense, I had already won through what I have learnt and experienced.”