Danna Yoon
One of the World Scholar’s Cup (WSC) regional rounds was held on May 3rd-4th this year in Tokyo, where 15 Saint Maur middle school students participated. Throughout the year, we met every Wednesday at lunch time and mainly studied topics related to the subject called “Reconstructing the Past,” which was the subject for this year. Luckily, each Saint Maur team had the opportunity to attend one of the global rounds! This is my experience participating at the Seoul Global Round.
When I first went there for the registration, I was so surprised because of how many people there were in the atrium. There were hundreds, thousands of people in a single theater! It was then that I realized that this would be very different from the Tokyo Regional Round.
My favorite part of the Global Round was the Cultural Fair. In the Cultural Fair, there were booths from each country and each booth gave us snacks and souvenirs from their country. There were a lot of booths to visit; some booths had traditional g ames to play and traditional instruments to play. Whenever I passed by, every booth gave me items that represented their culture. I received a bookmark, bracelet, book, scarf, fan, origami (from the Japanese booth), and even some snacks and mints. It was so much fun to talk with other participants and listen to their cultures. I even still keep in touch with the friends I made from that day. Another event I enjoyed from the Global Round was the Scholar’s Ball.
I would say that this event was the most exciting part for every scholar. Since Scholar’s Ball was held after Scholar’s Bowl which was quite a nerve-wracking event, everyone was so excited to enjoy the party. Everyone dressed up nicely and met in the party hall, where everyone was jumping up and down to the rhythm of the music. It was very loud, and very bright in the hall. My teammate and I sang along, danced, and socialized with each other. I even ran into some scholars that I had
met in the Tokyo Regional Round.
After a week of World Scholar’s Cup Seoul Global Round, on July 19th there was a closing ceremony. I got a medal in the event Team Debate and my teammates got medals from Collaborative Writing. Sadly, we didn’t get to go to the Tournament Of Champions which is going to be held on November 2nd to 8th at Yale University. However, this new challenge for myself was really worth it. It was exciting to make friends all over the world by participating in this Global Round!
Danna Yoon