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 北加州中文學校聯合會2005年學術比賽，於四月十日（星期日）在加州柏拉阿圖的貞史坦佛中學盛大舉行，共有來自36個學校的學生595人報名參加比賽。比賽依年齡分A、 B、C、D四組，內容有演講、作文、翻譯、書法、中西畫、查字典等共十六個項目。
除了翻譯及粵語每校可派兩名代表之外，其他項目只能有一名代表，因此參賽者皆是各校之菁英，而且訓練有素，競爭之激烈自不在話下。其中尤以即席演講、作文及翻譯最具挑戰性，都是比賽時臨場發揮，沒有真正實力的學生，都不敢輕易嚐試。今年的翻譯，更禁止參賽者使用字典。
培德男校有八位、女校有三位學生參賽。比賽結果，男校10年級劉親智得到翻譯A組第一名；女校十年級鄭涵云得到書法A組第一名，六年級李明珊得到即席演講B組第三名。男女校皆是本著鼓勵學生參與校外學術交流的心態，讓學生從活動中學習各種經驗，以增長見聞，此次也不例外。例如在查字典比賽結束後，參賽的同學忍不住跟老師抱怨：「為什麼要我參加這項比賽？」這是因為其他參賽者都是高手，都能在五十分鐘內完成八十道題目，而他不能做到。可是在一旁的母親卻非常的雀躍，因為她萬萬沒想到剛來聖城中文大字不識一個的兒子，現在竟然能夠獨立查字典，因此非常欣慰。我們認為不論得名與否，參賽目的已達到，同學都已獲得實質的利益。
加州華人眾多，中文教育特別受到重視，北加州中文學校聯合會的競賽活動，由於參與學校相當踴躍，每年的競賽都在蓬勃發展中。類似的學術比賽或教師研習，乃至祭孔大典等，都是本校樂見在萬佛聖城舉辦的有意義的活動。
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The 2005 Northern California Chinese Competition, sponsored by the Association of Northern California Chinese Schools (ANCCS), was held on Sunday, April 10, at Jane L. Stanford Middle School in Palo Alto. The 595 participating students from 36 schools were divided into age groups: A, B, C, D, and competed in various categories, such as impromptu speech, essay writing, translation, calligraphy, painting (both Eastern and Western), and dictionary searching. There were a total of sixteen categories.
Each school could send only one student to each category, with the exception of translation and Cantonese impromptu speech, for which a school could send two students. Thus, the participants were definitely the best students in their particular school. The contestants were very well-trained, and needless to say, the competitions were fierce. The most grueling categories were impromptu speaking, essay writing, and translation, for students were required to apply their talents on the spot, without being able to prepare ahead of time. Students without genuine talent would not dare to compete in these categories. Also, this year’s translation contest was made harder by a new rule prohibiting the use of dictionaries.
 Eight students from the Boys’ School and four from the Girls’ School attended the competition. At the end, Developing Virtue Boys School sophomore Qin Zhi Lau won first place in Translation Group A. Developing Girls School freshman Grace Jeng received first place in Calligraphy Group A, and sixth-grader Ming Shan Lee placed third in Impromptu Speech Group B. Both the Boys’ and Girls’ Schools encourage students to participate in such talent and art contests outside, so that they can learn and gain more experience from these activities. This time was no exception. For instance, after the dictionary searching contest, the student who participated complained to his teacher, “Why did you sign me up for this contest?” This was because all the contestants were very skillful in answering the 80 questions within 50 minutes and he couldn’t. However, observing from outside the room, the student’s mother was overjoyed because when her son first came to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, he didn’t know a single Chinese character and now he is able to look up information in a dictionary by himself. We think the competition results are of no importance. The actual benefit for students comes from the experience of participating in the contest.
There are many Chinese people in California, and Chinese education is regarded very highly. Every year, the ANCCS contests grow bigger in scope, and this can be attributed to the enthusiasm of the member schools. In the future, we would be delighted to see the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas host such big events, including similar contests, teacher training workshops or perhaps even the Grand Ceremony for Worshipping Confucius and other meaningful activities.
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