Debating Memories

Forty eight Senior School students took part in the biggest ever World Scholar’s Cup competition, held in Bangkok from June 23 to July 1. The students competed in teams of three against 3500 other students from 40 different nations. The competition involved debating and answering a variety of questions on the theme of ‘An Imperfect World.’ Our students worked well together, a significant number of our teams winning all of their debates, on motions about disease prevention, failed states and criminology. Our students also took the lead in some of the public debates, most notably Joseph Anhorn and Ingrid Bahnemann who were chosen as top debaters in their respective divisions.

Our students’ efforts were also rewarded with the largest ever medal collection from our school, a number of individual and team trophies and nine of our teams qualifying for the final Tournament of Champions at Yale University in November. Sultan Al Khalifa also had the honour of parading the Bahrain flag in the competition closing ceremony. All of our students represented Bahrain in the Cultural Fair, attracting a lot of attention from students from around the world. The competition itself was great fun, with our students enjoying visiting Bangkok and dressing up for the Scholar’s Ball. All of the students returned to Bahrain with at least one stuffed alpaca and some great memories.