Seven Hills Students Claim Top Prize in Kung Fu Competition, Featured on WCPO

Seven Hills students recently claimed the top prize in the kung fu competition held during Miami University’s Chinese Festival. 

On Friday, Sept. 16, Seven Hills Upper School students in Mia Wu’s Chinese class attended the festival on the Oxford campus. The event hosted schools from around the area.

The festival opened with a kung fu lesson, immediately followed by a competition to put students’ newly acquired skills to the test. Seven Hills placed first, and the school received $150 to spend on materials for their Chinese language class. Students were featured on news station WCPO because of their win. They talked to a reporter and were filmed practicing kung fu. Click here to read the story!

At the festival, Wu said, students had the opportunity to experience different aspects of Chinese culture. In addition to kung fu, they learned and competed in kite painting, sampled new foods, and visited booths featuring, among other things, Chinese movies and board games.

Wu said the event was a way for students to “experience different Chinese cultural perspectives.”

“I think it’s a great opportunity for students to experience Chinese culture,” Wu said. “It’s a rare opportunity in this area.”

Ann Griep, Seven Hills World Language Department Chair, said the students’ experience at the Chinese Festival shows a commitment to hands-on learning of a language.

“This is a great example of how teachers in the World Languages department strive to bring language learning outside the classroom,” Griep said. 

Seven Hills’ World Language Department offers Chinese, French, Latin, and Spanish in its Upper and Middle School. The school will continue to connect on a global level when it welcomes 23 students and two teachers from France as part of the French exchange program. In the 2017-18 school year, Seven Hills students will travel to China, Spain, Italy, and Greece.