Press Release April 13, 2008.

South Orange NJ, March 28, 2009 – The New Jersey Chinese Cultural Studies Foundation (NJCCSF) and the Asian Studies Department of Seton Hall University co-hosted the 3^rd Chinese Cultural Project Contest at the Seton Hall University. The purpose of contest is to promote the understanding and appreciation of Chinese culture and heritage.

The contest topic for this year - “What is the essence of Chinese culture in your eyes?” attracted over 30 entries from New Jersey high schools (Group A) and colleges (Group B). From this pool of entries, 4 high school teams in Group A were invited to compete for the top three prizes, and the 4^th team received the Outstanding Award. This year, an Award of Creativity was granted to a very creative team in Group A. At the college level, 2 teams from Seton Hall University and 1 team from Rutgers University were selected to present. The judges at the final competition were Professor Richard Simmons of Rutgers University, Professor Edwin Leung of Seton Hall University, Ms Mali Ou of Watchung Hills Regional High School, and Adjunct Professor YC Tsien of Northampton Community College, Bethlehem, PA.

The high school level’s winning teams are:

Champion – Livingston High School won a trophy and $1,000 prize

Team Members:

Penny Hung (Team Leader, Freshman)

Nathaniel Elkins (Senior)

Ritvik Dutta (Sophomore)

Ashley Feng (Freshman) 

Sean Kim (Sophomore)

Joy Ming (Sophomore) 

1^st Runner-Up – Hunterdon Central Regional High School won a trophy and $600 prize

Team Members:

Christi Reid (Team Leader, grade 11)

Ian Rusinski (grade 11)

2^nd Runner-Up – High Tech High School won a trophy and $300 prize

Team Members:

Krasti Quach (Team Leader, grade 11)

Peter Schmidt (grade 12)

Anna Hsieh (grade 11)

Connie Ngo (grade 11)

Andy Reyes (grade 11)

Outstanding Award – Ridgewood High School won a trophy and $150 prize

Members:

Christine Shigeta (Team Leader, grade 10)

Lily Josefsberg (grade 10)

Peter Cho (grade 11)

Award of Creativity – Marist High School won a trophy and $100 prize

Team Members:

Diana E. Betancur (Team Leader, grade 12)

Luh-Anne Malagad (grade 9)

The college / undergraduate university level’s winning teams are:

Champion – Seton Hall University won a trophy and $1,000 prize.

Christopher Wu (Team Lead)

David Millar

1^st Runner-Up – Rutgers University won a trophy and $600 prize

Team Members:

Marissa Small (Team Lead)

Yuhan Lin

2^nd Runner-Up – Seton Hall University won a trophy and $300 prize

Team Members:

Frank Forte (Team Lead)

Camilla Cotchett

Kelvin Yu, Chairman of NJCCSF, indicated, ” Both the high school and college students had put a lot of efforts in researching the topic and presented with the fascinating material and facts from the cultural and historical point of view.” A special thank-you goes to Mr. Shau-wai Lam, the chairman of DCH Auto Group for his generous sponsorship and as the keynote speaker of this event. Also, we sincerely thanked Prof. Dongdong Chen of Seton Hall University for seating as the chairperson of the event and organizing this contest since the first contest in 2006.

NJCCSF is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Chinese culture in New Jersey. It supports many Chinese cultural projects in the state through grants and sponsorships. For more information on NJCCSF, please visit www.njccsf-info.org or contact Kelvin Yu at 609-647-4844 or njccsf@gmail.com.