Arusha students on the road to Yale University

Students from ten years upwards quizzed, wrote and debated “A world on the margins” as part of the World Scholar’s Cup event, hosted at St Constantine’s International School, Arusha, over Sunday and Monday.

The first ever Scholar’s Cup round to be held in Arusha, and the first round of the 2020 event, is part of an international competition, culminating in the world final to be held at Yale University in USA.

Known as the Tournament of Champions, it is more than just another Global Round. Students have the chance to interact with and learn directly from Yale students and faculty. They attend a special panel on college life and learn how to leverage their World Scholar’s Cup experience as part of their admissions portfolio.

Students who qualified from Arusha and Dar Es Salaam will proceed to the 2020 Global Rounds, the venue for which will be announced in the next few weeks. Over 80 different countries will take part in the four global rounds.

Competing for that honour in Arusha were students from St Constantine’s International School, Kennedy House, Jaffrey Academy and The School of St Jude. Judges represented all competing schools under the guidance of the World Scholar’s Cup officials.

Coming fresh from the Mini-Global Round in Durban (September 23-26) were guest organiser and Scholar’s Cup representative Joseph Harr from Yale, USA, International Program Director; accompanied by Mr Thishin Moodley, the South African representative. Travelling to Tanzania especially for the event, they advised on the organisation and trained the judges in the special techniques required for this prestigious competition.

“The idea behind the World Scholar’s Cup is to create something different than traditional academic competitions and conferences,” said Mr Harr. “It is a celebration of the joy of learning, a tournament as rewarding for the team that came in last as for the team that came in first, an enrichment opportunity that motivates students not just to demonstrate their existing strengths but to discover new ones,” he said, noting during the awards ceremony, that the standard in Arusha was extremely high.

“We are honoured to host this prestigious event,” said St Constantine’s headmaster, Tony Macfadyen. “As an international school, we feel that any experience that opens our students to worldwide learning is beneficial in our goal to create global leaders.”

Mr Macfadyen said that St Constantine’s worked towards placing their students in the world’s most prestigious universities “of which Yale is certainly one” he said.