By Hanif 9C

They say extra-curricular activities take inimitable commitment. But not a lot of extra-curricular activities take you to Yale University. It just happens to be that the World Scholar’s Cup holds its Tournament of Champions at Yale University in the United States of America. My name is Hanif from Year 9 and I’m writing this article to recount my unique experience at the WSC Tournament of Champions at Yale University. The journey to get to the Tournament of Champions (which I will be referring to as ToC going forward) was not a short or easy one. The first stage in the World Scholar’s Cup are the regional rounds which are held in several different cities. The Global Jaya delegation competed in the Jakarta regional round and encountered substantial success. Teams who succeed in the regional rounds qualify for the global rounds which are larger and more difficult. But if teams succeed in the global rounds they qualify for the ToC. In the weeks approaching the ToC, the Global Jaya delegation studied and prepared rigorously. But time flew by quickly with departure approaching fast. GJS scholars attended a couple of training camps that were held in schools such as National High Jakarta School and BINUS Simprug to help prepare.

On November 6th of 2019 like Eddie Murphy, I was Coming to America. After an exhausting 7 hour flight to Dubai and a couple hours of transit, and a seemingly unending 15 hour flight from Dubai to JFK Airport, we arrived at last in the United States. One of the most irritating problems that comes with travelling overseas is the jet-lag which usually hits hard on the first few days. Some overcame it within days, while others never defeated it at all across the entire trip. Jet-lag was not only bothersome to us, but rather dangerous. It didn’t matter how much we studied or prepared for the events if we were to end up falling asleep midway through due to jet-lag. Luckily, we had 2 days to conquer our jet-lag before the events began. The first event of every WSC round is naturally, the opening ceremony. In which the scholars are welcomed by Yale University and the WSC staff. The opening ceremony can take quite a few hours to end, but it isn’t the only event to be scheduled that day. After the opening ceremony and keynote speech, scholars are separated from their delegations and randomly assigned to groups in order to participate in the Scholar’s Scavenge. The Scholar’s Scavenge is a great way to make friends and meet people from all over the globe. Nobody in the group knows each other, yet we are forced to collaborate. It’s the perfect recipe for some awkward group interaction and walking around in silence.

The academic events of WSC came the day after the opening ceremony. These events are Collaborative Writing, Scholar’s Challenge, and the Team Debate. Some scholars refer to these events as the “triple threat”, which is accurate to some extent because these events are the ones that scholars fear the most. These events are divided into two divisions, the Junior Division for scholars under the age of 14, and the Senior Division for scholars above the age of 14. My team and I were supposed to be in the Junior Division but due to late registration and the massive number of people participating in the event causing the division to be full, we were forced to compete in the Senior Division. These events were held at either the Yale campus or a local highschool depending on a team’s division. My team and I, along with some other GJS teams, had our events held at a local highschool. The first event we encountered was the Scholar’s Challenge. The Scholar’s Challenge is pretty much a multiple choice test about the WSC curriculum. The questions relate to the 6 subjects that WSC provides topics about. These subjects are Social Studies, History, The Arts, Science, Literature, and Special Area. After the Scholar’s Challenge, our team moved on to the Team Debate event of the World Scholar’s Cup. The Team Debate event is one of, if not the trademark of the WSC competition. Debates in WSC are packed with teams throwing out irrefutable points and relentless rebuttals, basically everything in their power to win the judgement of the adjudicator. I personally find this the most interesting and enjoyable part of WSC. A team must pick apart the debate motion carefully, while putting all possible strategies or arguments into perspective. A team must listen to their opponents attentively to pick up on any unsupported points or logical fallacies. The Team Debate event is a culmination of what it means to argue with all you’ve got. In a way, the debates are a sanctioned argument that has a trained judge and a guaranteed winner. It has rules signifying common decency, but other than that a place where any strategy to take down an opponent is fair game. May it be destruction through a loophole in the debate motion, a verbal lashing pointing out another team contradicting themselves, or a savage rebuttal session unrelenting on an opponent’s faulty claim. The Team Debate event is a battleground of ideas and critical thinking, a place where no argument is safe but no argument is wrong, it’s a warzone where no combat occurs beyond the use of one’s words. This is why I grew so fond of debating. The last WSC event we did was the Collaborative Writing event. In this event teams are given a list of motions which they can write about. This writing can be anything, may it be a traditional essay or a poem. All our efforts to succeed in these events paid off on the last day of the competition. The closing ceremony is a time where we are rewarded for our efforts in the form of trophies and medals (and chairs). For hours, as a delegation we sit and stare at a slideshow quickly showing names of students who are to be rewarded. Nothing beats the feeling of hearing your delegation shout your name as you see it pop up on the big screen inviting you to come down to the stage and receive an award.

All in all, the ToC at Yale University was an experience not to be forgotten soon. The whole GJS delegation got to enjoy our time abroad while continuing to sharpen our academic minds. In the end it’s really up to a person if he or she believes that the quantity of medals you receive is the definition of success. Because bountiful medals and shining trophies aren’t guaranteed. To win those, you need commitment and preparation. WSC isn’t something you can succeed at half-heartedly. It’s possible to pay any fee to attend the ToC but you can’t buy the awards. But then again the awards don’t define your WSC experience. For some, WSC isn’t an academic competition but more of a way to make friends. Because through WSC you can meet people from every corner of the globe. It doesn’t mean the end of the world if you don’t win as many medals as you expect. Because, hey, you got to see the whole journey through, and that really is something to be proud of. Although medals and trophies aren’t guaranteed, with WSC an unforgettable experience surely is guaranteed.