World Scholar's Cup Success

With thanks to student reporter, Michelle Guan

Towards the end of term, three Saint Kentigern College teams competed in the Auckland Round of the World Scholar’s Cup, against keen teams from secondary schools around the Auckland region.

The World Scholar’s Cup is an international academic competition that aims to cover a wide range of valuable topics beyond the school curriculum. In past years, Saint Kentigern teams have achieved great success at the World Scholar’s Cup, with teams qualifying for Global Rounds held overseas every year. This year did not disappoint, as all three competing teams qualified for Globals!

Last year, the World Scholar’s Cup was not held due to COVID. This year, the travel bubble with Australia allowed the hosts in to hold the event, but on very short notice. Despite these challenges, our scholars persevered in studying the fascinating content in less than two months, and were rewarded with great individual and team achievements.

Every season, a new theme is selected, and a curriculum is formed around this theme. This year’s theme was ‘A World Renewed’ and the six subjects were:

Arts: Second Chances, Second Glances

Literature: Reboots, Sequels, and Reconsiderations

Science: To Edit A Planet

History: History of Succession

Social Studies: Out with the Old

Special Area: Mistakes and Recoveries

The regional round began with an entertaining opening ceremony, which quickly transformed nerves into laughter, ensuring every scholar felt comfortable with the competition environment.

Our three teams of three then split off to compete in four intellectually stimulating events.

• First was the Team Debate. With three quick-fire rounds featuring 15 minutes of preparation and 4 minutes for each speaker, our scholars were challenged to think quickly and speak confidently.
• Next was the Scholar’s Challenge, a multiple choice quiz where you can choose multiple answers, if you are unsure which is correct – but for a price, the more answers selected, the less points awarded!
• Then came the Collaborative Writing event, where scholars were to write an essay (traditional or non-traditional), but were allocated time for teammates to collaborate on each other’s essays.
• Lastly, our teams competed in the Scholar’s Bowl, a team-based multi-choice quiz, sort of like a Kahoot.

Overall, the World Scholar’s Cup was an amazing event where like-minded people could come together and share their love of learning. Scholars went home with medals and stuffed alpacas (the event’s mascot). For the Year 13s for whom this will be their last event, our joy had a bittersweet tinge. Special congratulations to Kaia Olsen (Year 13) who took home 1st Place in Collaborative Writing, Charlotte Cornwall (Year 13) who came 1st in five out of six subjects in the Scholar’s Challenge, taking home the Asimov Trophy, and Sarina Wang (Year 13) for coming 1st Place overall. Finally, a massive thank you goes out to Miss Chloe Baillie, without whom this would have been impossible.

Notable Achievements