Students from a local high school travelled to Melbourne last month to take on the worlds best in an international academic competition.
A total of 18 students from Kelmscott Senior High School were given the opportunity to compete in the Melbourne global round of the World Scholar’s Cup, after qualifying in the Perth round in June.
Gifted and talented program coordinator Hayden McKenna said the students took part in collaborative writing challenges, team debates and scavenger hunts against more than 1600 students from 218 schools across 27 countries.
“I am amazed with the effort that our students put in and the results they received,” he said.
“I entered the Perth round thinking that maybe we would have one or two teams qualify for a global round, but little did I expect that I would soon be organising flights and accommodation for 18 of our students to attend the global round in a few months time.”
The students competed against many Western Australian public and private schools including Methodist Ladies College, Perth Modern and Scotch College while also going up against students from countries as far as Canada, Kenya, Japan, Slovenia and India.
Mr McKenna said overall the team ended up winning 106 medals in Melbourne with all students receiving at least one medal.
“One of the most significant results was from one of our junior teams who in the Melbourne round achieved an overall ranking of number nine in the division of students aged 12 and under and were the second highest ranked team from Australia in this division,” he said.
“Another standout result was the debating team who went undefeated in the debating competition and ranked number 27 in the team debating scores making them the fifth highest ranked Australian team.
“We do not run a formal debating program at Kelmscott Senior High so our students have self-taught themselves these skills.”
Year 10 student Monique Nelson said the event had been a massive part of her high school experience, competing four times in the national and international competition.
“I joined the competition thinking that it was just opportunity to debate but it has become so much more than that,” she said.
“This program has allowed me to travel, make friends with people all over the world and expand my knowledge in so many ways.”
