UChicago Student Wins Top Honor at 2025 Midwest College Chinese Student Speech Contest

The Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago (CEAS) congratulates Aadi Khasgiwala, who participated in the 2025 Midwest College Chinese Student Speech Contest held at North Central College on April 5, 2025.  

Over 60 students from eight colleges in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin participated in the contest. Students each gave a three-minute speech in Chinese and also showed their proficiency in Chinese during a talent show featuring singing, dancing, tongue twisters and Tang Dynasty poems.

Aadi, a student from CHIN 20503 Fourth-Year Modern Chinese III taught by Meng Li, won first place in the 4th-Year Non-Heritage Group category.  Aadi is a freshman in the College majoring in Economics and minoring in East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. During his speech, Aadi discussed similarities and differences in Chinese and Indian cultural traditions. He played the guitar and performed a song during the talent show portion of the contest.