When I first heard about the World Scholars Cup, I thought it was the scariest thing ever. Just hearing Gabriella talk about it made me feel incredibly dumb. As soon as I heard the word debate, I was shaking in my boots. I start bawling my eyes out when I argue with my older brother. So, when I heard that you had to debate, I was like “I wouldn’t be caught DEAD doing that.”
I’m dead.
Just kidding, I mostly enjoyed attending the World Scholars Cup. At first, the cons outweighed the pros. The months of preparation, research, meeting up on Thursdays and Fridays to discuss standardized fonts for hours on end… I hated all of that. I remember being so fed up with the competition that I was fine with not even making it to the first round. However, that mindset quickly changed when I saw those shiny medals that they set out on the tables for the Prize Giving. However, the purpose of this article isn’t to gloat about how many medals my team accumulated. You’re reading this to learn about how I got here, my journey, and how I ended up with a red Lama named Jerry in my backpack.
It all started on Saturday morning at 6am. My alarm rang non-stop, so I threw my phone off the bunk bed. After that, I threw myself off the bunkbed and went to get ready for the competition. My teammate and I decided to wear our formal uniform. You wouldn’t believe how disappointed I was to see that we were the only Bodwell team wearing formal clothes. That wasn’t even the best part, the first two hours of this event consisted of my team and I trying to cram as much knowledge as possible in our heads before the debate started. I just looked at all the research I wrote about and at once knew I was doomed. The worst part is, they made each team from different schools stand up and introduce themselves by making Lama sounds.
I was an expert at that.
Soon after that, it was debate time. Do you remember when I told you that the only time I argue is with my brother, and that I’d start crying? Well, I was on the verge of bawling my eyes out during those debates. I decided to be the 1st speaker for my team, and we were arguing the motion, “Why we shouldn’t miss the past.” We were on the affirmative side, so I was the first person to speak in the whole debate. My notes were all over the place, and we only had 15 minutes to prepare. I went up there and stuttered, murmured, and did everything except speak confidently. Safe to say that I completely tanked that debate for my teammates, especially when I asked the judicator, “how much time is left?” Then I proceeded to stand there for a minute and not say a single thing.
Moving on…
The other team had so many years of experience. In fact, one of the girls has been doing the World Scholars Cup for 6 years! 6 years ago, I had my 9th birthday party in my backyard, I invited all my friends and I felt so cool. I did not feel cool during these debates. I felt very uncool. The second debate was better by around 0.5%. At least, in my case. I’d say I drastically improved in my last debate; I talked so much that I reached the warning time which signalled that I had to finish up my debate. That made me feel cool. That was also the only debate we won, but you win some you lose some (literally).
After, we had Subway for lunch. It was okay, nothing much to say there. The next two events were what destroyed my entire brain capacity. We had to do collaborative writing and all the topics were just horrid. Nasty. Foul. The worst part was that we had to somehow connect all 3 of our writings. I could barely manage to do that, I don’t even remember what I wrote down, but I surely didn’t think it was good enough to get a silver medal.
We wrote the scholars challenge soon after that. I will not go into detail about this, just know that it was the most long, mentally-tasking multiple choice assessment I’ve ever done in my whole life. 0/10, would not recommend it for your child (please know that I am joking).
That was the entirety of the 1st day, which was the most challenging. The second day was 6am Sunday morning. This time, I was more prepared. Instead of throwing myself and my phone off my bunkbed, I flew out of it. I changed into non-formal uniform and got ready to listen to a bunch of adults talking about Lamas and how that connects all Scholar Nerds who were in the competition (me included, unfortunately). I genuinely enjoyed this day. This was when my teammates and I did the Scholars Bowl, where all the teams sat together and answered multiple choice questions projected on the large screen of the auditorium. For 99% of the questions, me and my friends were using our minds and spirits to determine what the answer was.
“Dude, are you feeling option C?”
“I’m not feeling any of them to be honest…”
Choice C was the answer, and we managed to play the game like that until the very last question. This was something we knew, and this question counted the most out of all the questions. When we got the question right, all three of us simultaneously screamed along with all the other teams who got it right. Safe to say we were in high spirits (ha-ha, get it?) and were ready to sit back and relax while watching the Debate Showcase and Scholars Talent Show. I have got to say, these nerds are seriously good at everything. From dancing to free style singing, to even doing cool tricks on yo-yo’s, I was beyond impressed. Except one of the acts where this guy was teaching the crowd how to “rizz”.
He wasn’t even doing it right!
Finally, there was the final Prizegiving. This would also be the time when we would find out which teams made it to the next round; the Global Round. I was shaking in my boots once again, nervous out of my mind. We had received a few medals here and there, but they gave out a lot of medals anyways. When the time came to announce the top 25 qualifiers, I was disappointed to see that our team’s number hadn’t been put up there. However, I wasn’t aware that they would announce additional qualifiers as well. When we saw our team there, and all the other Bodwell teams there, we all screamed. I couldn’t believe it. We made it to the Global Round. Wow,
This was one of the greatest experiences I have ever had, and I don’t think I would’ve done it if it didn’t look good on the university application. However, it became so much more than that, I talked to so many different people, lamas, and it was a bonding experience for my teammates and me.
That’s not to say that it wasn’t the scariest thing ever. It was the good scary, like you’re on a scary rollercoaster and you’re having so much fun but you’re also on the verge of throwing up. I would recommend doing it if you’re interested, but for now, I must go do more research.
PWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
These are the awards of all our amazing scholars!
| Name | Awards (Out of over 300 scholars) |
| Sai Hei (Winfred Pang) | 17th in art and music (individual silver) |
| Jo-Yu (Mina Chang) | 13th in Asimov aka “knowing everything” (Silver) |
| Yitong (Mia) Chen | 15th in special area aka “knowing everything” (Silver) |
| Natnicha (Gutjung) OOonpatichai | 77th in team debate (individual silver) |
| Nang (Yulina) Seng | 7th in Asimov aka “knowing everything” (GOLD) |
| Phuong (Fu) Nguyen Ai Doanh | 4th in Asimov aka “knowing everything” (GOLD) |
| Seera Kumo | 24th in team debate (team silver), 17th in collaborative writing (team Silver) 24th in Scholars bowl (team silver) 61st in collaborative writing (individual silver) |
| Omalicha Wosu | 24th in team debate (team silver), 17th in collaborative writing (team silver) 24th in scholars bowl (team silver) 67th in collaborative writing (individual silver) |
| Gabriella Ashley Steele | 24th in team debate (team silver), 17th in collaborative writing (team silver) 24th in scholars bowl (team silver), 55th in collaborative writing (individual silver) 14th in individual debate (GOLD), 36th overall scholar (silver), BODWELL’S TOP SCHOLAR (GOLD) |
| Ching Yau Li (Yulia) | 8th in literature and media (GOLD), 19th in science and technology (silver) 49th in collaborative writing (individual silver) 49th overall scholar (silver), 22nd in collaborative writing (team silver) |
| Elena Salmanpour | 22nd in collaborative writing (team silver) |
| Khin Pyae Sone Htet (Jewel) | 22nd in collaborative writing (team silver), 47th in team debate (individual silver) 73rd in collaborative writing (individual silver) |
| Kenshun Isoda | 13th in collaborative writing (team silver) |
| Ho Ching Nick Yam | 13th in collaborative writing (team silver), 17th in special knowledge area (silver) |
| Yu Hang Cai (Alice) | 4th in individual writing (GOLD), 13th in collaborative writing (team silver), 45th in team debate (silver), 17th in literature and media (silver), 51st overall scholar (silver) |