World Scholar’s Cup 2017 The World Scholar’s Cup has been part of our extra-curricular provision at BST for many years and there are students in sixth form right now who still speak with fond enthusiasm about their experience of the event. This year we had 15 committed students who took part in the World Scholar’s Cup at the Tokyo Regional Round. It was a challenging couple of days but it was also extremely rewarding and every team member managed to come away with at least one medal. Students not only enjoy the competitive atmosphere and challenge, but also the bonds they built with their teammates. This year’s annual theme was - ‘An Unlikely World’, and six subjects were created surrounding this theme. You may be asking, ‘What is the World Scholar’s Cup?’ World Scholar’s Cup is an international academic competition inspired by events like the ‘Academic Decathlon’. It gives students from around the world the opportunity to compete against each other in a variety of challenges. Regional rounds take place annually in over 50 countries around the world. There is also a Global Round and a Tournament of Champions which is held each year at Yale University. In the regional round, the Scholars take part in four key events over two days; Collaborative Writing, Debating, Scholar’s Challenge, and the Scholar’s Bowl. In the Collaborative Writing event, students are given an essay prompt from each of the six subject areas. Each member of your team must choose a prompt on which they will write an argumentative essay. Teams can plan and proof-read together but they must write each essay individually and under timed conditions. The essay prompts are always thought provoking and encourage you to think outside the box. A few from this year were, “too much hope is dangerous”, “the government should take responsibility for dangerous documents” and “Matilda would be a good parent”. Taking part in this task, we learnt how to write persuasively in order to convince the judges with our argument by giving strong evidence and using rhetoric. We also learnt the use of pathos and ethos in order to improve and perfect each other's essays. We felt it was challenging but extremely fun.

http://www.scholarscup.org/

In the Debating event, students were challenged to apply their knowledge of the Scholar’s Cup curriculum, as well as general knowledge and oratory skills. Each team debates three times during the day, on three separate motions. Afterwards, the teams give each other constructive and kind feedback on how to become better debaters, before the judge announces the winner of the round. During the course of the debates, judges are asked to identify any speakers who are particularly outstanding. These students may get the chance to compete in the Debate Showcase on the last day - this year, Lewis Peedle was chosen to debate on stage. This event is designed to promote self-confidence and public speaking skills. To be successful it is also mandatory that you work well with your team. In the Scholar’s Challenge event, students are individually assessed on their knowledge of the entire curriculum in a multiple choice test of 120 questions. However, this event comes with a twist; Scholars can choose multiple options but the more you select, the less your answer will be worth. This gives the Scholars the opportunity to feel less pressured, and to show their critical thinking in a stressful, but educational situation. Lastly, in the Scholar’s Bowl, each team uses a buzzer, in order to answer a series of questions on the topics in various exciting rounds. Teams get points for each right answer, depending on the round and question significance. This is a tense and fast paced round which always creates a charged atmosphere in the auditorium. Success relies on quick thinking and communication between teammates. At the award ceremony on the evening of the final day, we got to see the benefits of our hard work as we collected countless medals. Ms. Hetman and Mr. Reid were our coaches for this event, and helped us prepare in the ECA throughout the second term. Without their guidance, we are sure that we scholars would have lacked direction and advice. Once again, well done to all the students who took part. That is: Claire Liersch, Makoto Tsuzuki, Lia Okumura, Ilina Patki, Zaia Lovric, Lottie Drews, Lewis Peedle, Luke Marrable, Luke Matthew, Riddhi Singh, Oscar Hymas, Masmo Miyakawa, Ella Sundstrom, Emi Grey and Roshan Soni. By Zaia, Ilina and Makoto.

http://www.scholarscup.org/