BSB won Gold at WSC Tournament of Champions, Yale!

On the 7^th to the 14^th of November, two Junior Teams and one Senior Team from The British School of Beijing (BSB) Shunyi travelled to the USA to compete in the Tournament of Champions at Yale University after qualifying in the regional and global rounds of the World Scholar’s Cup! 

• Junior Team #1: Anny Singh, Leticia Cella Xia, Scarlett Moseley
• Junior Team #2: Brandon Zhang, Joseph Hei, Sarah Wang
• Senior Team (mixed schools): Jaimee Van de Merwe & Russel Su from BSB and Aleksey Pansa from New York

The Junior Teams started on the 8^thand the Seniors on the 9^th with the opening ceremony and scavenger hunts which kicked off a week of academic challenges and social events testing the student's competency on all levels. On the second and most intensive academic day the students took part in team debates against the other schools, completed a collaborative writing task and a ‘challenge’ (subject-based multiple choice exam). During the debate rounds, both Junior Teams had two loses and a win and the Seniors came home winning all three debates. 

The next academic competition was the Scholar’s Bowl. A challenging multiple-choice general knowledge quiz. The students all sat together in Woolsey Hall and had a digital remote that enabled them to select an answer. After the bowl students from around the world presented bravely in a talent show and finally were presented from a panel of Yale students and faculty to interact with and learn directly from. The main take away for students was how their World Scholar’s Cup experience can be a part of their admissions portfolio. Not to mention some extremely fluffy alphas (the WSC mascot) were right at home under the arm of every WSC competitor. 

On the second last day, the students were given a day to explore New York City including - Times Square, the Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, 911 memorial and a ferry tour of The Statue of Liberty.

Overall the BSB students had an incredible opportunity to challenge themselves amongst the world top scholars and walk away knowing what it’s like to be a student at one of the world’s greatest universities.

Junior Results:

• Our biggest win was Overall Individual Creative Writing Gold medal going to Scarlett. She beat over 2000 other Scholars by winning this award, superb effort! In addition, Scarlett picked up Silvers medals in Science and debating.
• Sarah on a Gold medal for Creative Writing (placed in the top 100). Sarah also won a Silver medal in the literature challenge.  Leticia Cella Xia won a Silver medal in the Social Studies Challenge and Anny Singh picked up an individual Silver medal in the History Challenge.

• Brandon won Silver medals in Individual Debate (placed top 150) and Creative Writing.
• Junior Team Anny, Leticia and Scarlett collectively won gold medals for Collaborative Writing (placed 8th).

Senior Results:

• Jaimee won Gold in the Debating Competition (Top 15 out of 2000 students)! She also won a Silver medal in the Science Challenge.
• Russell won a Silver in Individual Debate and a Gold in Science Challenge
• The Senior Team also won Gold in Team Debate

Student testimonials:

Anny “WSC is a wonderful opportunity. It’s not about the medals you’ve earned, it’s about the places you’ll go, the people you’ve met and the new experiences you’ve gained. And what an incredible journey it is.”

Jaimee “WSC helped me grow as a person and in my academics, it’s an amazing experience which allowed me the chance to travel and learn new things”

Russell “I highly recommend WSC to students who want to travel and live out of their comfort zones for a while and find a challenge with other like-minded individuals from around the world. It was a fantastic academic and social experience that my past self would never think I would ever participate in."

Update from Ms. Megan Sinclair and Mr. Chris Planchant