“The World Unbound” was the theme for this year’s World Scholar’s Cup Shanghai Regional Round, held at the end of April. The event was comprised of two full days of debates, essay writing, an individual quiz, a Scholar’s Bowl, a talent show, and, of course, an awards ceremony. The World Scholar’s Cup encourages students to be well-rounded learners, analyse literature and art, make correlations between different topics, and formulate complex conclusions and opinions. Lower Secondary students at Gubei and Century Park Campuses committed their time to study for and participate in the World Scholar’s Cup competitions as part of their Co-curricular activities.

To prepare for this challenging event, the Upper Secondary students had to study multifarious subjects, including Art and Music, Science, History, Literature, and Social Studies, as well as a “Special Area” with a theme of “Heroes and Superheroes”. The Special Area is used to bridge connections between various subjects compelling students to draw conclusions instead of reciting memorised facts, and this year’s Special Area included questions such as “If we were to discover people with special abilities living amongst us, would we celebrate them – or fear them?”.

This year’s competition was the largest China-wide to date, with over 420 students participating. Even with this fierce competition, the YCIS Shanghai students did exceptionally well! The school’s Century Park Campus senior team (Dylan (Year 12), Rachel (Year 12) and Emily (Year 10)) won the Scholar’s Bowl and placed third overall; Jenny (Year 10) placed second in the Essay Writing; and Alexandra (Year 7) remarkably earned 5th place out of 200 entrants in individual writing. The YCIS Shanghai Gubei Campus team also made a big mark in the competition! Two students (Melissa (Year 8) and Joe (Year 10)) won da Vinci Awards, which celebrate well-rounded high scores across all areas. Jasmine (Year 9) was the 4th place overall champion scholar. The silver medal for debate was won by the YCIS Shanghai Gubei Campus junior team (Anthony, Danny, and Nicolas (Year 9)). Anthony also won a silver medal in individual debate medal and an honourable mention as an overall champion scholar, while Nicolas won an additional silver medal in individual debate and the History Challenge. Throughout the competition, all of the students demonstrated the well-rounded education they receive at YCIS.

The students worked very hard and admirably committed their weekend to join their peers for this scholarly endeavour. More than just winning though, the students enjoyed their time at the competition, and are already looking forward to next year’s World Scholar’s Cup! To learn about additional Co-curricular activities in which YCIS students are active, click here