The World Scholar's Cup

Despite having only been open since August 2011, Wellington College entered two Junior teams in the preliminary round of the World Scholar’s Cup ,held at International School of Beijing on Saturday, 17th March and Sunday, 18th March. Each team is composed of three members. The World Scholar’s Cup is composed of team and individual competitions in debating, creative writing and knowledge, based on mastering several briefs in topics as varied as art, poetry, science, current affairs, urban development and films. The Wellington teams were composed of Katie Cook (Year 9), Ada Chen (Year 8) and Ally Kim (Year 7); and Jaehyun Kim (Year 9), Jan Janeczek (Year 8) and Nicholas Thumiger (Year 8). Katie Cook participated in last year’s World Scholar’s Cup final in Kuala Lumpur where she put in a very impressive performance, becoming the Junior debating champion. None of the other Wellington students had taken part in the event before.

The Wellington teams were the only representatives from any Tianjin international schools and they carried the flag for the city admirably against a wide range of Beijing schools, both international and Chinese. Both teams qualified for the world final, due to be held in Bangkok in late June, while the girls’ team won medals for being the third placed ‘rookie’ team and the second debating team overall. Katie Cook came second in the individual debating, as well as seventh overall in the whole competition. Now it is on to Bangkok for the two Junior teams. Meanwhile, the College plans to enter more teams, at senior and junior level, in the next regional preliminary round in Hong Kong in May.