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A pair of University of North Georgia (Â鶹ÊÓƵ) students placed second in their divisions of the fourth annual Southeastern U.S. Korean Speech and Quiz Contest. Â鶹ÊÓƵ co-hosted the event via Zoom with the in Atlanta.

Ann Lim finished second in the nonheritage level three competition, and Emelia Thompson took second in nonheritage level one. Both are pursuing minors in Korean. They competed against students from Auburn University, Duke University, Emory University, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Kennesaw State University, University of Georgia, University of North Carolina and Vanderbilt University.

Lim, a junior from Lawrenceville, Georgia, pursuing a degree in cybersecurity, gave her five-minute speech about how her grandmother's cooking is similar to traditional Korean cooking. Originally from Malaysia, Lim focused her talk on the sounds of Malaysian and Korean cooking.

"I love Korean food, so I knew I wanted to discuss something in that realm," Lim said.

Thompson, a sophomore from Covington, Georgia, pursuing a degree in communication with an organizational leadership concentration, gave a speech on using the Korean language to connect across cultural differences. It tied with her career goal to work in international human relations.

"It was an amazing experience to see so many other people studying Korean and why they were doing it," Thompson said. "It gave me that practice I need. It will benefit me a lot in the long run."