To excel in the World Scholar’s Cup is now quite normal for Bromsgrove International School Thailand, but to do so on ‘home turf’ was especially fitting.
The World Scholar’s Cup is the most prestigious academic competition for Secondary students in the world, with over 10,000 teenagers competing annually from over 50 different countries. Modelled on the American ‘Academic Decathlon’, the competition encourages students to explore university-level content through debating, writing and divergent inquiry, all under the watchful eye of the competition mascot, the alpaca!
Members of the Bromsgrove squad at the Opening Ceremony.
This year’s theme is “An Imperfect World”, with topics ranging from ‘Crime and Justice’ to ‘Disease and Public Health’, and from ‘The History of Cheating’ to ‘When States Falter, all complemented by a vast array of art, music and literature, from Browning to Murakami, Gustav Mahler to Green Day, or Van Eyck to Banksy.
The 2016 Thailand round of this exciting contest was hosted by Bromsgrove on 19th and 20th March, with almost 300 of the very most able, gifted and talented students from across the government and international school communities pitted against each other in an intensive weekend of cerebral and fun competition.
Bromsgrove Year 8 student, Leif, in the Debate Showcase.
In the Junior Division, Bromsgrove students enjoyed an impressive medal and trophy haul, with Daisy Savage placing 7th overall, out of around 170 students, and her team (with Joon Ho Byun and Nina Chitsamankhun) placing 3rd overall out of all Junior teams. Bromsgrove’s Senior team (Meetu Bharati, Thomas Savage and Surabhi Vanalia) placed 1st in the intensive ‘Scholar’s Challenge’, perhaps the hardest event in the competition, and, like the Juniors, an impressive 3rd overall, with Thomas winning a trophy for being the 4th highest scorer in the whole weekend.
Bromsgrove’s top Junior and Senior teams placed 3rd overall in this prestigious competition.
With all 15 Bromsgrove students having qualified for the Global Round in June, which, this year, will also take place in Bangkok, the next few months will be busy and full of feverish study and preparation. Having excelled against their peers nationally, Bromsgrove’s students will be wanting to do equally well when competing against the other regional winners from around the world, and, hopefully, to qualify, for the third year running, for the stellar Tournament of Champions at Yale University in November.
The Bromsgrove Alpacas, laden with trophies and medals
