WORLD SCHOLARS CUP SHANGHAI REGIONAL ROUNDS: SHSID TRIUMPHS

Early in the morning of the 27th, the students from SHSID’s WSC team gathered at the SHSID Baise gate, jumping out of their bodies with eager excitement. This was to mark the start of a 2-day WSC regional competition, a successful and unifying experience, one that greatly surpassed our achievements in the regional rounds last year.A bit of tension was building as the students unloaded off the bus to the competiton, bubbling with anticipation among other emotions. The day of the competition began, and each student along with their teams of three were separated and assigned to different competition challenges based on their assigned group, such as collaborative writing, the scholar’s challenge, and team debates. During the opening ceremony, Daniel Berdichevsky, the founder of WSC, calmed students with light-hearted explanations of how each team event was to be carried out. Throughout the three events that we participated in on Saturday (collaborative writing, the scholar’s challenge, and the team debate), all of our eleven teams went through varying experiences, deterrents, achievements, and glories, all with something new to share. The day closed sooner than expected, each student standing, once again, at the entrance, discussing their scores and expectations. It was needless to say that there was immense hope and promise for fulfilling results the day that followed.

On Sunday, the students filed into the Grand Theatre of China, a bit worn-out from the day of work on Saturday, and settled into their seats. Sunday began far more buoyant than the day preceding had, with amusing challenges involving balancing alpacas on our heads, honoring the chairs we were sitting on, and other absurd yet entertaining notions that carried on throughout the entire day. Then came the scholar’s bowl, bringing a whirlwind of cheering and melodramatic team reactions alike to the questions relating to the WSC study topics presented on the grand display of the theatre. A break was given to the students, during which each of them adopted an alpaca. After an eventful lunch, the students reentered the auditorium for the debate showcase (for which Daniel Chen from SHSID was chosen as a speaker for the negative team), followed by the talent show.

Finally, as the patience of each student wore thin, awarding began when the night began to dim. First, the junior team challenge scores were announced. As each team name flashed onto the vibrant red screen, each student was holding their breath and praying for the best as they watched on. Team 255 of Alex Dawrant, Chloe Xue and Chloe Ng ranked 5th in the junior pision, and team 251 of Audrey Lin, Crystal Zhao and Mimi Yang ranked second out of all.

Inpidual debate champions were announced next; Crystal Zhao ranked 12th for Junior debate, Mimi Yang 7th, and Audrey Lin placed at 6th. In the senior pision, Mike Chen ranked 4th. To place in the top ten at the largest Shanghai WSC round ever means a ranking in top 1% of 700+ competitors, a tremendous accolade for SHSID.

For the team bowl, Team 255 ranked in the top 10 once again at 9th, and team 251 with Crystal Zhao, Audrey Lin, and Mimi Yang snatched second place once again. The screams and hollers in support of SHSID’s teams were vibrant as ever, and our presence was moving and detectable across the entire theatre.Coming up next were the subject awards, of which Audrey Lin from 8(8) ranked #1 with the highest scores in art & music. She also received 5 gold medals and one silver medal for her achievements in the other 6 categories.

For the inpidual collaborative writing sector, Mimi Yang of 8(1) ranked 9th from the junior pision, and Harry from 8(9) achieved 11th place for the senior pision. For the team scores in collaborative writing, team 253 with Erika Liao, Elizabeth Yu, and Vicky Yu ranked 10th in the junior pision; Mimi Yang, Crystal Zhao, and Audrey Lin ranked 7th; while in the senior pision Harry Lee, Adele Shen, and Warren Wang ranked an incredible 5th place.

When it came to team debates, SHSID dominated. Rank #1 for the junior pision was awarded to team 251 once again, while team 253 and team 252 (Raymond Tang, Max Liu, Lucas Wu), follows with a close third place and seventh place, respectively. The senior pision’s first place debate team was taken by Mike Chen’s team of three scholars, all from different schools. Nonetheless, it was a victory to be rejoiced among the scholars of SHSID.

Finally, anticipation built up to its apex when the results for champion scholars began coming out. These were the combined scores for each inpidual student from every round they chose to compete in—and SHSID once again plastered the screen with three scholars making the top 10, all from the same team of 251. These were Crystal Zhao in 10th, Audrey Lin in 3rd, and Mimi Yang with 2nd place. The champion scholars representing each school were also announced—of which Mimi Yang represented the junior pision of SHSID. There were more people from SHSID on the top 10 award panel than any other school.

Last, but most definitely not least, the qualifier champion teams to the global round in the Netherlands this summer were triumphantly announced. Every team from our school, senior and junior, qualified to advance to the global round. Each team stood by the side of the stage, by the audience seats, watching and waiting with fearful eagerness. The teammates of 251, anticipating a high ranking, stood with their fingers crossed, not bearing to wait any more grueling seconds for the results. Finally, the screen flashed red with the name of the number one team in all of regionals—one sharp intake of breath, and the words: ‘Shanghai High School International pision’ was displayed, right underneath was the triumphant team number: 251, followed by the names of Mimi Yang, Audrey Lin, and Crystal Zhao. And the cherry on top to each team’s achievements—SHSID was able to lock down first place for best team in both senior and junior pision. Elated cries are heard throughout the crowd, students are congratulating each other—the essence of unity is heard through the air. When the prizes were finally all handed out, the students packed their bags with alpacas in hand, bidding farewell to their chairs, and getting ready to head home—spirits high and hoisting their school pride higher than ever before!

喜讯：WSC上海地区赛SHSID学子独占鳌头，成功晋级国际赛

在刚刚结束的周末里，WSC（World Scholars Cup世界学者杯）迎来了上海地区赛，这次比赛成绩优异的队伍可以进入国际赛。本次赛事为期两天（4月27日和4月28日），比赛项目包含合作写作、scholar’s challenge、和团体辩论、scholar’s bowl、辩论表演秀及才艺秀等。参赛的队伍强者如云，有来自各所国际及双语学校的选手们，而上海中学国际部也有多支队伍参赛。颁奖典礼真是令人激动的时刻，我们骄傲地看到，SHSID学子独占鳌头。SHSID本次比赛包揽了初中组和高中组总分的冠军。且不论是个人，还是团体，都有着非常卓越的表现。在各个项目中，都有我们的学生获得很多奖项，并且，全员都晋级到了将在荷兰举行的国际赛。当问及其中获奖者之一对这次比赛的感受时，她说到：“虽然WSC的上海地区赛结束了，可学生们收获的不仅只有奖牌和奖杯，更多的是，在这次经历中从其他参赛者身上学习到的优秀品质。”再次恭喜获奖学生，母校为你们骄傲！不仅为你们取得的累累硕果，也为你们不断超越自我的自信姿态！也感谢所有参与者们的辛勤付出！

Written by8（1）Mimi Yang，8（6）崔家欣Supervised by Mr. Jason Sonnefeldt, Chen FanPicturesbyMr. Jason SonnefeldtFollow us 请关注我们