Grammar Gazette - Issue 2, 2023

FROM THE STUDENTS World Scholar’s Cup

A rewarding academic challenge STUDENTS A W A RDED TOURN A MENT TROPHIES A T

WORLD SCHOL A R’S CUP Chantelle Lam (8B) and Charlotte Lin (7O)

Fifteen scholars. Fifty thousand competitors. Even more alpacas. This is the World Scholar’s Cup (WSC). The WSC is an international academic competition involving students from more than 75 countries, that aims to develop worldwide collaboration and intellectual growth through a diverse scope of learning. The World Scholar’s Cup diverges from mainstream educational programs, focusing more on real-world matters, thus encouraging deep and critical thinking alongside meaningful discussion outside the classroom setting. This year marks Brisbane Girls Grammar School’s inaugural participation in this competition, with all teams achieving exceptional results. Teams who are successful in a regional round advance to the global rounds, and scholars who qualify are invited to the Tournament of Champions at Yale University every year. Five teams were entered into the Brisbane round, who performed incredibly well. All teams qualified for the global rounds, being held later this year. The syllabus revolves around a set theme, always deliberately controversial, and the content studied is related to the theme. The theme of 2023 ‘Reconstructing the Past’ explored how reimagining the past could affect the future. The syllabus is divided into six subjects, one of which is notably a Special Area, changing every season. The comprehensive content requires much external research and knowledge beyond rote learning. The acquired knowledge is then tested in a variety of events where knowing the information, but also understanding its application to challenges, is essential.

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The competitive events are the Scholar’s Challenge, Scholar’s Bowl, Team Debate, and Collaborative Writing, and each of these contain an unexpected twist. The Challenge is a multiple choice test where scholars can select as many answers as they desire. Next, the Bowl is a loud and strategic quiz where teams use a clicker device while under time pressure to answer correctly. The Team Debate involves randomly selected teams debating on motions relating to the syllabus. Finally, Collaborative Writing: scholars are given a selection of six prompts—one from each subject—to write about, and one hour in total to create three separate pieces of writing. Through this tournament, both of us have been challenged, tested, and rewarded. Reflecting on our experience, we feel the WSC is not only a competition, but a culture and a community. We have discovered that the WSC is a place where like-minded learners come together to share their talents, backgrounds, and perspectives. It is also a celebration of the humble alpaca: the mascot of the World Scholar’s Cup. An alpaca features in the logo, is given out in various forms in every round, and is almost everywhere (even on some students’ desks in the examination room). Additionally, the World Scholar’s Cup has a live alpaca called Painted Warrior, which students can visit when they make it to Tournament of Champions. This is only the start of our WSC journey, and we are excited to see what it will bring in the future.

CAPTIONS 1 CHANTELLE LAM (8B) AND CHARLOTTE LIN (7O) WITH THEIR MEDALS AND TROPHIES FROM THE WORLD SCHOLAR’S CUP 2 THE BRISBANE CHAMPION WORLD SCHOLAR’S CUP TEAM— JOLINA CHEN (9R), ALISA WANG (9R) AND ANNABELLE ABRAHAMS (9G)

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GAZETTE • ISSUE 2, 2023 ISSUE 2, 2023