Luka Yelash, who graduated from Waitākere College in 2022 with NCEA Chinese Scholarship and Excellence Endorsement, has gone on to achieve wonderful things in the 23rd Chinese Bridge Speech Competition. The Chinese Bridge Competition is a large-scale international contest sponsored by Hanban and is well-known in cultural and educational exchanges worldwide. This prestigious competition began in Beijing on 15 August with 147 first-place winners from 130 countries across five continents.

After winning the national competition in New Zealand, he was invited to attend the international stage along with hundreds of others from around the world. Luka, also known as 王小帅 wang xiao shuai, made it into the World’s Top 5 and 1st in Oceania, in the Chinese Bridge Competition, which is often called the Olympic Games of Chinese language and culture. Each year, over 100,000 Chinese language learners worldwide participate in the Chinese Bridge. We are incredibly honoured and proud to see Luka achieve this milestone, which is a perfect testament to the teaching excellence at the University of Auckland and from his humble beginnings at Waitākere College.