York student Luc Pokorn won first place in the 12th annual Chinese Bridge Language Preliminary Competition, for the Ontario and Manitoba regions, held at Seneca College in May.
The competition included delivering a speech, answering questions about Chinese history, culture, geography, language and artistic performance. Pokorn’s fluent Chinese and excellent performance 
made him a star at the competition. As the first-place winner, he will compete in the Grand Finals taking place in July in Hunan province, China, where he’ll compete with students from all over the world.
Luc Pokorn heads to China to compete after winning the Annual Chinese Bridge Language Preliminary Competition
The Chinese Bridge, Chinese Proficiency Competition for foreign college students, is an international annual event sponsored by the Office of the Chinese Language Council International, Hanban, Beijing.
York’s students have been selected to participate in the preliminary competition in the past, including Stephanie Allport in 2011, who won the third place. Pokorn is the first one to catch the laurel for York to head to the Grand Final.
Currently an undergraduate at Glendon College, Pokorn is doing a double major in international and Hispanic studies. Fluent in English, French and Spanish, he has been deeply attracted by China’s rich history and culture. He travelled in China for more than one year, where he learned the language. In addition, he recently completed the fourth-year Chinese language course at York.