“The first step is the hardest, just do it.” I’m James Huang, in the higher primary group. This motto kept me going in the Star of Outlook English Talent Competition.

This competition has made us stronger, with more than seven million contestants this year and many interesting contests.

It’s hard; everything about this competition is hard. If it weren’t hard, it wouldn’t be fun. That’s the idea of a competition. This might be exaggerating and hard to understand, but long story short, a hard competition is a good one. This is what my friends and I know, and we want all the other contestants to know this too.

A competition is a game. Some people say that a competition is a cruel game, but it’s actually nothing like that. A competition is fun game, one in which you get to compete with friends and learn to make the uncomfortable comfortable. You just have to walk out of your comfort zone and confront the challenges. From this competition, we learned how to make a good debate, how to make our speeches better, and how to help out with our friends after they’ve lost.

I feel very lucky to be able to get in China’s top ten. To think, half a year ago, we were just making the participation video, doing the theme “This is Me” in Wenzhou. We barely knew what was going to happen. The workers and teachers only told us a little, so it was like running in the dark; we couldn’t see what was in front of us.

After all this competing and getting rough, it’s finally time to relax. I have to admit, the Star of Outlook is really fun and I encourage other kids, no matter how old they are, to try it. You’ll learn more than you expected. As of myself, I can’t wait until middle school to participate again!