Peyton Ross, a sophomore studying Journalism, won the Highest Standing Award (1st place) for the beginning level at the 3rd Midwest Korean Speech Contest on April 16, 2022. Held by the University of Iowa and co-sponsored by Chicago Consulate General of Korea, 50 students representing 20 different schools participated in the virtual contest.

Peyton has taken Korean since the fall of 2021 and spoke about how she overcame her hardships through the word “uri,” which means “we” in English. For being the top competitor out of 18 students in her division, Peyton was awarded a scholarship and airfare to study Korean at Sogang University in Seoul.

Congratulations, Peyton!