A global ‘Olympics of the mind’, the World Scholar’s Cup stretches young brains in divergent and creative directions often missed by the taught curriculum, and provides a level of challenge on which only the very most able students in the world can flourish. One of the foremost international schools in Thailand, Bromsgrove International School entered two teams for this year’s contest. So strong were the teams that not only did they qualify for the global round in Singapore in June 2014, but they are also amongst the global elite and only team from Thailand to have progressed to the final stage – the Tournament of Champions at the prestigious Yale University, USA in November 2014.
Exploring every conceivable angle of this year’s theme, ‘The World Within’, the World Scholar’s Cup pits the brightest minds of their generation against each other in writing, academic study, debate and divergent thinking – diving deep into topics as diverse as abnormal psychology and secret societies, the history of Espionage and Japanese court music, Martel’s The Life of Pi and Camus’ ‘The Myth of Sisyphus’. Two of the debate motions in Singapore were ‘The World Scholar’s Cup is a competition for geeks’ and ‘The World Scholar’s Cup should be renamed the World Scholar’s Cult’ – and it is true that this intellectual and idiosyncratic competition, whose proud mascot is the alpaca, represents a unique community of teenagers proud of their intellectual might and cerebral idiosyncrasies.
Bromsgrove’s students proudly display their World Scholar’s Cup alpacas.
Fifty nations were represented in the flag march on the final day of the global round, a reminder that Bromsgrove’s ‘alpacas’ went into battle against the best in the world and came out triumphant. And now Bromsgrove students Thomas and Daisy Savage, Surabhi and Devi Vanalia, Joon Ho Byun and Jeana Lee are immersed in intensive training for the final furlong in wintry Connecticut.
To find out more about the World Scholar’s Cup, have a look at new.scholarscup .org. For a window into Bromsgrove International School, Bangkok’s Premier Boarding and Day School, please visit www.bromsgrove .ac.th, or come and pay us a visit.
Top students Thomas Savage and Surabhi Vanalia preparing for a debate.
