Kalamazoo College students dominated the 2016 Japanese Language Speech Contest held at the Novi (Mich.) Civic Center in late February. Christa Scheck ’17 won third prize for her speech, “Translating Japanese Into English: the Problems of Literal Translation.” Senior Jamie Heywood took home the Consulate General Prize for her presentation, “Experiences of a Homosexual.” And junior Ke Sheng was cited with an honorable mention for his speech, “Japanese Cellphones.” K’s participation this year was marked by two firsts: the first time in K’s history a student placed in the top three; the first time K students won multiple prizes in the same year, taking three of the total of five! Pictured are (l-r): front row–Yilang Qiu ’18, Jie Xu ’17, and visiting international student Naori Nishimura; back row–Assistant Professor of Japanese Noriko Sugimori, Ke Sheng, Crista Scheck, Jamie Heywood and Consul General Mitsuhiro Wada. This contest is organized by the Japanese Consulate General of Japan in Detroit and is sponsored by, among others, Delta Air Lines, the Japan Business Society of Detroit and the Japan Foundation.