• Baylor senior wins Texas collegiate Japanese speech competition

    Baylor team at the Dallas Regional Japanese Speech Contest

    In February, ‪‎Baylor‬ sent four students to the Dallas Regional Japanese Speech Contest — and swept 1st, 2nd and 3rd places.

    In March, Baylor sent two of those students to the Texas State Japanese Speech Contest — and one of them won it all.

    That one was Sean Nixon, a senior from Eagle, Idaho. Not surprisingly, Dr. Yuko Prefume (BA ’04, MSED ’06, EDD ’15) says Nixon is one of the best students she has ever taught in her decade as a Baylor Japanese lecturer. “I have worked with students to compete in the Japanese speech contest since 2007, and he was the student who needed the least help,” she says.

    This year’s 26th annual Texas State Japanese Speech Contest, brought together college students from across the state to compete in a speech and Q&A session – all in Japanese, of course. To get there, students first had to excel at regionals. Competing in the Dallas Regional, Baylor students took home the top three spots: Nixon in first, followed in second by Grace Lu, a senior media business major and Japanese minor, and in third by Jimmy Ta, a senior film and digital media major.

    The top two students from each region advanced to the state competition, where Nixon — a Baylor Business Fellow majoring in finance and minoring in Japanese — again claimed first place. His award includes not only a snazzy trophy and bragging rights, but also a $1,500 scholarship, courtesy of the Japan America Society of Houston.

    Sic ’em, Sean!

    You might also enjoy:
    Building a connection between Waco and Japan (Oct. 2011)
    How do you say ‘sic ’em’ in Japanese? (Jan. 2011)
    Senior claims second at state Japanese speech contest (April 2010)