A trio of Maple Ridge secondary students will travel to Athens, Greece in July to compete in the global round of the World Scholar’s Cup after finishing third in last month’s Vancouver regional round.
The World Scholar’s Cup is meant to celebrate the joy of learning through a tournament that tests critical thinking skills on subjects that affect people globally.
Students go through four phases of the competition: team debating; a “scholar’s bowl” that forces teams to strategically solve questions; collaborative writing; and a multiple choice challenge.
Sophia Dobischok, Dolan Deschamps and Jake Pauls will represent MRSS ast a team in Athens.
“The primary basis for it is talking about serious issues while not taking yourself too seriously,” Dobischok said. “It’s celebrating the fun of learning and the joy of discovery while connecting and synthesizing different ideas and topics.”
The group is lead by teacher Karen Aitken, who pushed as many students as possible to look into the competition. She’s hoping next year will be an even better year, as some dropped out, unsure of how much preparation was needed.
“There are elements of risk-taking, some students thought they weren’t prepared enough,” Aitken said. “Next year, we’ll have the experience… you just go in blind and do it.”
Pauls said the team’s strongest attributes come in debating as they all bring something different.
The Athens competition runs from July 19-23.