Braeburn Shines at the World Scholars Cup Regional Round

The last two days of last term saw 24 students from Braeburn join more than 500 students from other schools to compete for honours and a coveted chance to qualify for the Global Round. More than half of the team was composed of Year 6 students who were some of the youngest scholars at the competition. Most of our scholars had a hectic time preparing for the competition as they had to cope with their school work, end of term tests and a host of other school activities including the production.

It was a nervous first day as they got registered at Brookhouse. The nerves were slightly eased as they sat through the opening ceremony, each received an alpaca and were asigned rooms for their first competition event, the Team Debate. Despite facing off with older scholars, some from Year 9, our students held their nerve and debated courageously, winning a number of debates in the 3 round event. They proceeded to complete the Scholars Challenge and Collaborative Writing with varying levels of success and were only too happy to see the day end although anxious for what awaited them next day.

The second day got off to a slow start as they all congregated in the Catholic University auditorium for the Scholars Bowl. Just as in the Scholars Challenge, they had to summon every bit of memory to answer the questions at the touch of a clicker. After a deserved lunch break the re-energised scholars were back in the auditorium for the Debate showcase. Njeri, calmly took her seat on the judges’ panel as the best speakers from the two day tourney traded points, barbs, and motions to decide which side would carry the day. This was followed by the Scholars Show in which Lileko brought the house down with her rendition of ‘Halleluiah’ while Prisha mesmerised everyone with her ability to speak extremely fast.

Our scholars, despite their limited experience of the program, performed very well when the final results were announced. There were exceptional performances both individually, with Njeri emerging as the best scholar from Braeburn while her team, along with Vedika and Sanjeevani also topped the school roll and secured an impressive overall position in the Junior Division. The icing on the cake was when all the 24 scholars earned their berths to the Global Round!

A big well done and congratulations to all our scholars Vedika, Sanjeevani, Njeri, Madhavi, Nizar, Sanghamitra, Prisha, Lileko, Niharika, Luke, Hansil, Izyan, Aneeka, Marlon, Najwa, John, Yanete, Erica, Pratham, Jiwon, Amelie, Anay, Mohammed and Izaack! See you all at The Hague.