New World Scholar’s Cup is an inclusive enrichment activity for students ages 11 to 18, with local events in about 70 countries. Participants explore six interconnected subjects, from science to poetry, then put their learning into practice in team debate, creative writing, and other skill-building challenges. Teams from local events can then journey onward to one of our international rounds (the nearest thsi year is in Bangkok) and to our annual final gathering, hosted by Yale University in the United States.
For a better sense of what the World Scholar’s Cup feels like in person, I suggest checking out the quick video from the Junior Division at one of our past global rounds. The hope is that it conveys the program’s culture, in which we learn serious things without taking ourselves too seriously and in which no one ever has to fit in to belong.
The 2023 subjects will be release soon, but in the meantime sutdents can explore the ‘starter pack’ which is already on the website.
Once the students have started looking at the subjects, they can also prepare by practicing for the four events. I’d recommend that the scholars use their knowledge of the subjects to contribute ideas for practice debate motions, writing topics, challenge questions, and bowl questions. Then they can do their own ‘mock’ versions of each event. For information about our debate formats and how we grade essays, please consult the events page on our website https://www.scholarcup.org/events/ There are also lots of scholar-made unofficial resources online which some may find useful.
Flag ceremony at the 2022 WSC Tournament of Champions at Yale University. We don’t often email everyone in our community all at once. Thank you for being part of the World Scholar’s Cup, whether you’ve been with us since before we added the word “World” to our name or have joined us much more recently, perhaps so recently that, for you, Havana is still just a city in Cuba, and a chair is something you sit on. I’m writing with two updates (neither is breaking news, but both are importan) and an invitation to the season ahead.
Update 1: Global Rounds
This year we will be holding global rounds in London, Seoul (where it all began in 2007!), Bangkok, and Doha, with two more soon to be added in Izmir and Xiamen. A long-overdue return to Australia is also in the planning stages. Please contact us if you have any questions or need nay help as you organize your journey: registration forms are already available on our website. Also, for those who followed the original global round announcements, please note that we have shifted the dates for Doha a week earlier in deference to Edi El-Adha celebrations.
Update 2: The New Theme
This weekend, in Mombasa, Lusaka and Montreal, we held our first rounds with the new theme for the 2023-2024 season, Reconstructing the Past. A starter pack is already availabe on our webstie, and additional areas for exploration are coming soon.
An Invitation for Every Scholar
The more scholars who join us, from across every divide, the stronger our community becomes, and the more wonderful and whimsical our story. If you’re in a city with a round already scheduled, we invited your school to take part: check out our calendar to see what regionals are up ahead. If you’re in a city which had rounds before the pandemic, but you don’t see on yet for 2023, you can be sure that we’re working hard to relaunch as soon as possible: let us know if yourschool might be interested in hosting. (Yes, we’re looking at you, Norway, Athens, and Cebu, and quite a few other places too). And, if you’re somewhere we’ve never been before, we’d love to collaborate with you to welcome a whole new region of schools and scholars to the program.
The age range for the World Scholar’s Cup round in Yangon will be 11 years through until your oldest studets (10 years is OK as long as hey feel confident in English). There will be two age divisions: Junior (those aged 13 and below as of Junary 1st this year) and Senior (thoese aged 14 and above as of Juanary 1st time Year).
Also, I can now share that the round is going to be moved to May 20-21. Once that’s fully confirmed, I will be posting it on the calendar and sending out an email to all interested schools with an updated flyer and a registration form.
