Students participate in alpaca-themed academic competition

On April 27th and 28th, Gold Apple Bilingual School and the Great Theatre of China will be hosting the World Scholar’s Cup (WSC), a global program that is known for skillfully incorporating unconventional elements into its rigorous academic competition. Middle and high school students from international schools in Shanghai will be attending the Regional Round in the city amidst fierce contest as the program grows in scope and acclaim. This year, students from both SMIC-I  and Chinese Track will be participating in WSC 2019 with the goal of qualifying for Global Rounds, one of which will be in Beijing, then the final Tournament of Champions at Yale University during the summer. All in all, 156 students from sixth grade to tenth grade, accompanied by teachers and parents, will be heading out for the competition. 

Peiru Chien (9A), a freshman who is participating in WSC, explained how he and his team were preparing for the competition: “The 6 ninth graders participating this year… have each made a study guide on one of the six topics and we have been studying for the past 5 weeks or so.” Shedding a light on the months of hard work behind the two days of competition, he admitted “it was especially stressful… as we need to process more than 300 pages of information and more than 100k words.” On a more positive note, his fellow team member Kuan Ting Lu (9C) described WSC as a “special experience” and commented, “I recognize this competition as a chance for me to learn more about modern society situations.”

Another participant, Jennifer Sun (10C), talked about the specific benefits the competition offers: “WSC is a really good occasion for us to gain in-depth knowledge in various fields,” while also providing an opportunity “to get to know the scholars around our age from all around the world and enjoy the process of learning.” Furthermore, traveling to Global Rounds in foreign cities was a very attractive prospect. “Last year…[the Global Round] was held in Melbourne, Australia, and I’ve always wanted to travel there,” Jennifer said. Sophomore Sarah Lin (10A) shared her own reason for participating: “WSC promotes personal interpretation and analysis while having fun…”

Younger participants have also found WSC a great competition. Yuki Hashimoto (7C) talked about what he hoped to take away from the competition: “I hope I can…get to [a] Global Round, become a better debater, and have more confidence in public speaking.” He described WSC as “challenging and fun at the same time.” He added that it was interesting to be able “to talk about topics we usually don’t talk much about daily,” referring to the “A World on the Margins” theme this year. “[WSC] bring[s] people together from around the world,” Talia Swart (8B) added. Talia went on to win the Asimov Award and six gold medals for an outstanding job on the Scholar’s Challenge, and the 1st Place Overall Student Junior Division in SMIC; in addition, her team also won 1st place for debate and 2nd place overall in the Junior Division. “It was really a great time for our team, and it was great that we were able to make SMIC proud,” Talia said.

For an academic competition, the World Scholar’s Cup definitely puts an interesting spin on things with its changing themes, alpaca mascot, and other eccentric activities. Here’s looking at another great year for SMIC students competing in the program.

Featured Image – Daniel Berdichevsky introduces Global Rounds 2019 Photo Courtesy of Scholarscup.org

by Esther Wu