1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
5: Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively
World Scholar's Cup is an academic competition consisting of four events: team debate, collaborative writing, scholar's challenge (individual MCQ test), and scholar's bowl (group MCQ test). Katrina, Risa, and I formed one team and participated in the 2022 Bangkok round.
During the team debate, there were three rounds of debates. As I progressed throughout the rounds, I learned that judges and opponents were more persuaded by a speaker's tone and confidence, rather than the content and organization. This method of evaluation put me at a disadvantage, because my strengths were in research and writing. When I debated, I usually presented my findings in a tone that was more informative and calm, rather than persuasive and aggressive. Thus, it was a challenge to quickly adapt to using my limited time to figure out what impactful phrases to use and how to maintain a confident persona, instead of prioritizing the reliability of my sources and validity of the argument. In the end, this task helped me become more flexible with different audiences and adapt to multiple styles of argument.
In collaborative writing, we were tasked with answering one of the given prompts by creating a written response, which could be in the form of an essay, play, comic, etc. I chose the prompt “Should more video games be released as a series of short episodes instead of as one whole game?” In the 45 minutes that I had, I wanted to challenge myself by creating a comic because I had experience with drawing, and thought it would mean I could also create a decent comic. However, I was proven wrong. In such a short amount of time, it was overwhelming having to plan out meaningful dialogue, structuring the panels, and sketching people with correct proportions. This exercise of creating a rough outline helped me realize the important components of a comic (and storytelling) include plot line, dialogue, pacing, and characterization. Nice art could not drive a story like I, as an illustrator, had assumed. Now I know that if I were to make a comic in the future, I would have a lot more to study about.
In the scholar's bowl (group MCQ test), which worked like a Kahoot game, Katrina, Risa, and I collaborated with each other. Prior to this, we (kind of) studied different subjects. For example, I studied science topics, while Katrina studied literature and Risa studied history. This was useful for the task because we were able to specialize in an area, and then contribute our knowledge whenever a relevant question came up. This reduced the burden of having to know everything. In addition, it was interesting hearing others share their knowledge, and being able to teach others.
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