World Scholar’s Cup hosted in city
The winter school holidays which can be somewhat of a bore for learners, took an interesting turn when 84 learners from schools in the city and surrounds took part in the two-day World Scholar’s Cup that was hosted at Mitchell House starting on Monday. The event is organised by World Scholar’s Cup, an international foundation …
The winter school holidays which can be somewhat of a bore for learners, took an interesting turn when 84 learners from schools in the city and surrounds took part in the two-day World Scholar’s Cup that was hosted at Mitchell House starting on Monday.
The event is organised by World Scholar’s Cup, an international foundation that was started in 2007 and based in Los Angeles, California.
The theme of the event was ‘An unlikely world’ and learners from schools that included Mitchell House, Noorderland High School, Capricorn High School and Laerskool Pietersburg-Noord Primary (Noordskool) participated.
World Scholar’s Cup facilitator, Tlou Mashitisho said that the competition brings together over 20 000 learners from 50 countries across the globe and the Limpopo competition is the 107th round for this year. “Our goal is to inspire young people of all backgrounds a love of learning, a confidence in new skills and a sense of global citizenship,” Mashitisho explains. Polokwane is only the fifth South African city to host the competition.
Teams consisting of three members participated in Team Debates, Collaborative Writing, Scholar’s Challenge and Scholar’s Bowl.
Topics of exploration, from moonshot technology and the history of conspiracy to the science and art of prediction, will be drawn from the theme. Interesting topics that include ‘The Greek Gods should have used Twitter’, ‘Schools should fire teachers who are teaching conspiracy theories’ and ‘It would be better to live in a world where everybody woke up in a different body every day’ were interrogated.
The winners of this round will qualify to take part in the 2017 Global Round of their choice in Hanoi, Athens or Cape Town and if they emerge as winners there, to the Tournament of Champions at Yale University in the USA.
Grade 9 learner from Mitchell House Cian Goeminne, Grade 12 learner from Khwevha High School in Thohoyandou Remember Ragimana, Grade 10 learner of Mitchell House Fatima Ismael and Grade 7 learner of Noordskool Sky Gouws all agreed that the competition was a great event. “I want to explore new things and gain knowledge,” Remember said.
Story and photos: BARRY VILJOEN
>>barryv.observer@gmail.com
