ZCS celebrates first Mandarin Immersion graduates

ZEELAND — A small group of students became the first graduating cohort of Mandarin Immersion students at Zeeland Christian School this spring.

The students — Jake Buursma, Caiti Grant, Zoe Larsen, Garrison Sprick and Simon Sprick — are the first to complete the Mandarin Immersion program at ZCS, the only program of its kind in the area.

The students entered elementary school with no knowledge of Mandarin Chinese, but spent eight years doing nearly all of their content in the language and graduated from ZCS with an eighth grade level of speaking, reading and writing fluency.

Through the program, the students have connected with students from abroad, written essays and research papers and performed in community events while solely using Mandarin.

In a press release, the students said they enjoyed and are thankful for the Mandarin Immersion program.

“I have enjoyed learning Mandarin,” Larsen said. “I’m thankful that Zeeland Christian gave me this opportunity and I hope to use it for the rest of my life to help others to know God.”

“[We] like being able to communicate with each other and no one else can understand us,” stated brothers Garrison and Simon Sprick. “It is so cool that we can learn Mandarin in elementary school rather than waiting until college.”

Zeeland Christian provided opportunities for the students to interact with native Chinese people through the program as well, including a trip to Chicago’s Chinatown and yearly Chinese New Year celebrations with international Chinese students from Holland Chirstian and Northpointe Christian schools.

Each graduate intends to continue using and growing the skills in the Mandarin language, according to ZCS. The school stated in a press release that most of the graduates plan to enroll in the Advanced Mandarin program at Holland Christian High School.