四月如期而至，虽然暂时还无法返回校园，但诺科的学生们忙碌依旧。在每日严格按照课表完成网课学习之余，大家也纷纷抽出时间参加了各种有意义的校外活动。
近日，部分诺科的学生们正紧张地准备着“ NSDA China线上演讲与写作比赛”。
这个比赛由全美最大的演讲与辩论组织NSDA China主办，旨在通过公众演讲和辩论教育，培养年轻学生成为世界公民和未来领袖。比今年比赛的主题为“China to the World”, 从中国到世界，让世界了解中国。在备赛过程中，学校为每位学生安排了一位指导老师，即使不能面对面交流，他们还是会通过Zoom Meeting每周至少沟通一次。
参赛的诺科学生们准备的怎么样了？他们要向世界传递怎样的信息？让我们来听听来自参赛学生和他们的指导老师的声音吧。
Pre 1的Peter说在家平时都是上网课写作业，参加比赛让生活更丰富了：“Obviously, the contest is a surprise to my ‘online school life’.”
Pre2 年级的Ann把目光锁定在新冠病毒带来的影响：“I want the world to know racism and xenophobia won’t fix the COVID-19. In contrast, it will bring a lot of impacts to the world not only socially, but also economically.” Ann也坦言在写作过程中，尤其是收集材料的过程中她遇到过不小的挑战：“To avoid aggressive thoughts is the most challenging for me. During the writing, I was struggling with making some fairly specific example about Donald Trump, CNN Press, and other countries’ opinions. If there is no choice that participants have to make such examples, I think they should use them without bias or hates.” 最终，克服这些困难完成项目的Ann也呼吁大家明年一起参加这个有意义的比赛，她还给大家提出了很棒的建议哦：“Doing the research properly and thinking critically are EXTREMELY important. For writing contest, I think participants should build their article with logic, because logic will make the article crystal clear and pretty convincing. Ah, writing work cited correctly is also significant:)”
对于同为Pre2 年级的Icy来说，参加比赛令她既兴奋又紧张 ：“In my first draft I wrote a lot but it’s vague and general. Thanks to my coach’s advice, she told me to narrow and focus the topic.” Icy平时事情较多，她选择在深夜独自构思，安静的夜晚让她文思泉涌，写完的那一刻她 “feel so relaxed”。
提起指导的两位学生，Mr. Brenton 老师的话匣子打开了：“The two students I've been helping out have both been impressive. It takes a special kid to not only be motivated to take part in online classes, but to do extracurricular activities online. Both Ann and Daphne have worked very hard to prepare their submissions for the contest. Daphne is new to our school, but she took on the challenge and has excelled beyond anything I could have expected. Ann has done what Ann does, the very best. She's taken a look at a situation and attempted to display it through the eyes of those who call themselves the victims. I'm very proud of both of these ladies, and encourage other students to follow in their footsteps in the future.”
Ms. Wendy老师则分享了这个比赛区别于其他活动的意义： “Many of our students, including my advisee, Icy, choose to talk about COVID-19. I feel the efforts they put in the contest help not only to improve their academic skills, but also improve their responsibility, dedication and integrity, which is ever important in our collective efforts in addressing today and tomorrow’s greatest challenges. ”
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