On June 11 & 12, nine of our high school students attended the World Scholar’s Cup Regional Round at Bangkok Patana School. Our students focused hard and demonstrated incredible knowledge, collaboration and resilience throughout this event. Each who participated won multiple awards, with one standout student, Katherine Dorval of Grade 9, winning 3rd place for Best Overall Scholar and First Place Debater from out of over 500 students! Additionally,Ěý˛ą±ô±ôĚýof our students received an official invitation to the Global Round in Bangkok this September, with one group in particular (Katherine, Grace and Fine from Grade 9) receiving extra recognition as one of the top-three teams from the entire student delegation.

Special Recognition

The individual awards and recognitions are listed below:

Katrina Lin (Grade 11): Silver Medals in Team Debate and Collaborative Writing

We look forward to seeing you all continue to develop your knowledge and character traits which you demonstrated at this event!

The post World Scholar’s Cup Regional Round 2022 first appeared on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

The post World Scholar’s Cup Regional Round 2022 appeared first on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

Field Trip Overview

On Saturday, January 19, a group of students from our World Scholar’s Cup club, along with the advisor, Ms. Christina, attended a Toastmasters International meeting to learn, practice and develop their public speaking skills. With their next major competition coming up in March, this was a very valuable experience to build students’ confidence, knowledge, and training of public speaking skills. Read more below from the perspectives of two of our team members, Gia Karamchandani, a Grade 10 student and club leader, and Krish Jain, a Grade 7 student.

From the perspective of a Grade 10 student

Taken place on the 19th of January, 2019, 16 żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ students, ranging from grade 7 to 10, observed and took part in a Toastmasters session. is a nonprofit organization that aims to develop an individual’s speech and public speaking skills. The 16 students who participated, are a part of a club in school called . WSC is an academic program where students from over 80 countries participate and debate. The reason for taking these members to this organization was because, in order to be successful during the annual WSC rounds, students must know how to be confident while debating. Along with being confident, they must practice other public speaking skills. For instance, it is important to avoid using “filler words,” as eliminating them will increase credibility. Helpful skills such as this were taught and practiced during the session we attended.

During this trip, all of the students, including myself, took this opportunity to develop the skills needed to be an expert public speaker, which is what the sole purpose for this event was. This experience challenged the majority of the students by making them give a speech without preparation. After the speeches were delivered, there was time for reflection, where either Toastmasters or Toastmaster members would come in front and comment on a few aspects and give advice for potential improvements. Numerous valuable public speaking tips were obtained. Some examples are as follows: don’t memorize the speech, be wary about the time, use the full stage appropriately, etc. With all the advice we received, we will now be able to more easily practice on what is needed for each individual’s speech for upcoming WSC competitions. Watching professional public speakers, such as the president of Toastmasters, set a great example of what a public speaker should be like. This event also helped in student leadership by making all of them more confident.

As one of the leaders of WSC, it gave me great joy to see the members of the club engaged in an activity that challenged their abilities. Although it was evident that some of the students were initially frightened and were contemplating volunteering to give a speech, the majority of them ended up raising their hands to volunteer. Seeing this made me realize that this trip truly sparked a new interest in all of them.

Overall, apart from gaining a memorable adventure, the students, along with the leaders, got closer with the advisor, forming a bond that will help in future trips and meetings. This was not only a great chance for all of the WSC members to see how a real chapter of the Toastmasters works, but also to strengthen their skills in public speaking, which is essential for WSC round and life in general.

Written By: Gia Karamchandani, Class of 2021

From the perspective of a Grade 7 student

First field trip of WSC 2018-2019! The members of World Scholar’s Cup (WSC) from żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ took an astonishing field trip to Saturday Toastmaster Club. Toastmasters is run internationally by the name Toastmasters International and it is a non-profitable club. It has clubs almost all around the world with high level debaters along with professional organizers. One of the greatest traits is that they welcome and support beginners and everyone in between, too.

The trip took place on the 19th of January 2019 at the Student Christian Center near Ratchathewi BTS Station. There were 17 people in total who attended in the event from Wells including our respected WSC Club advisor, Ms.Christina.

The Toastmasters trip was just a short experience before the Regional Rounds of Bangkok. As the Regionals Rounds approach, this trip was an exemplary warm up to practice speaking before a larger audience at the Regional Rounds. Our main purpose at Toastmasters was to improve public speaking skills along with experiencing something new and captive such as overcoming fear and meeting new people.

The club meeting helped; we realized how much confidence results when we think critically. At the beginning, we had an evaluation contest, in which the professional debaters of Toastmasters had to evaluate the speech of the “test speaker.” The topic of the test speaker was about Language Barriers. Alongside the test speech, we got to know how essential it is to know and understand people’s speech and take it into our own perspective so we can evaluate and explain it in our own way.

We had an exceptional opportunity to show our critical thinking skills, but also how to express our thoughts in front of a large audience. The significant opportunity we received was part of the Table Topic Sessions. Toastmasters opened up the Table Topic Sessions to WSC. They asked for volunteers, in which eight of us eagerly participated. They then stepped out of the room, knowing that they would be asked to answer a question on the spot, without any preparation, in a short 2-3 minutes long speech. This, again, exercised our critical thinking and confidence! The question everyone was asked was, “What will you do to gain more knowledge?” We were asked to improvise on this question, meaning as soon as we entered the room, we were told to answer the question without having time to prepare an answer.

After the Table Topic Session completed and everyone spoke, the audience was asked to vote on the eight contestants who took part in the competition and the participant with the most votes won. As the voting was going on, the professional organizers and debaters were sharing their public speaking experience with the students, so the students could use helpful tips and encouragement in the future.

As soon as the professional organizers concluded their speeches and the voting came to an end, the results were announced and this was how the glorious trip had come to an end.

The main highlights was not only student leadership but also public speaking skills. If we talk about the Wells ESLRs, this relates to Effective Communication, Active Learners, Problem Solvers, Worldwide Citizenships, and lastly Service Minded and Self Reliant.

By: Krish Jain, Class of 2025

On behalf of Wells and the World Scholar’s Cup club, we would like to thank Toastmasters for hosting us and giving our students a meaningful experience and the skills necessary for their future success!

The post World Scholar’s Cup Club Field Trip to Toastmasters first appeared on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

The post World Scholar’s Cup Club Field Trip to Toastmasters appeared first on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

In addition to our team’s students winning dozens of gold and silver medals for various events, we also took home top-ten spots in creative writing and debate (out of hundreds of students), took the second place trophy for senior team debates (out of dozens of teams), and even had a student selected for the “Debate Showcase,” wherein students must debate a topic never seen before with limited preparation time in front of an audience of hundreds of students and adults.

The post World Scholar’s Cup Bangkok Round first appeared on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

The post World Scholar’s Cup Bangkok Round appeared first on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

Visit our for more photos of the 2012 Global Round of the World Scholar’s Cup.

With żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ entering its third year of participation in the World Scholar’s Cup, it had high hopes for the regional and global rounds, both held in Bangkok this year. The veteran Wells scholars did not disappoint, as one senior team was crowned the national champions at the regional round, held on April 28th at New International School of Thailand (NIST). Led by the new individual national champion, Akhil Shanishetti (Class of 2015) Daryl Ong and Gautham Giri successfully fended off stiff competition from other international schools–including NIST, Anglo Singapore and KIS–to lead all senior teams in total points. Not stopping there, they and the other Wells teams dominated the field, racking up an impressive number of team and individual awards:

• Overall National Champions (Senior Teams): Akhil Shanishetti, Daryl Ong, Gautham Giri
• Overall National Champion (Senior Individuals): Akhil Shanishetti
• Scholar’s Challenge (Senior Teams): 1st
• Scholar’s Challenge (Individuals): 1st
• Debate (Senior Teams): 2nd, 3rd
• Debate (Senior Individuals): 2nd, 3rd
• Writing (Senior Teams): 3rd
• Writing (Senior Individuals): 2nd
• Scholar’s Bowl (Senior Teams): 1st
• Scholar’s Bowl (Senior Individuals): Four 1st place, two 2nd place, one 3rd place

Yet the success of the Wells teams at the regional round came with the knowledge that much stiffer competition awaited at the global round, hosted at Bangkok Patana and the Bangkok Convention Center in CentralWorld. Dwarfing the previous two competitions in Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur–where the Wells competitors received numerous gold medals–the 2012 Global Round set a new record with over 1,000 participants from over a dozen countries, including the top-seeded team from the United States. In typical form, Wells made a mark not only in the awards received, but also the positive way in which it represented Thailand as the host country. Beginning with the flag march, in which defending national champion Akhil carried the Thai flag, the Wells students served as ambassadors for their nation, making new friends and even performing a traditional Thai dance for the closing ceremony.

When the competitive events began, however, the Wells teams came out in full force. Though the field was again dominated by the Singaporean teams, the struggle for the remaining prizes was fierce among the Thai participants, which included teams from Concordian, NIST, Bangkok Patana, Bromsgrove, KIS, Anglo Singapore and St. Andrews. Yet by the end of the final day, the students had again amassed several awards. Led the top scorers from the junior and senior teams, Ranuli Illankone and Akhil Shanishetti, Cathy Shang Kuan received a silver medal in literature in the Scholar’s Challenge, and Gautham Giri a bronze in science. Most impressive were the results from the veteran debaters. Out of over 150 senior teams, the team of Harjas Anandsongvit, Amira Lukens and Boan Shang Kuan netted fourth place overall, and Harjas became the 2012 debate champion, receiving the sole individual gold medal awarded in that event!

Over the past three years, the World Scholar’s Cup has grown exponentially, gaining a worldwide reputation as one of the premier academic competitions. Founder Daniel Berdichevsky–seeking to expand it further–collaborated with the U.S.-based this year to send the best students from both events to a Tournament of Champions, to be held at the prestigious Yale University in September, 2012. Based on their excellent performances at the global round, all three of the Wells senior teams–along with one from Anglo Singapore and one from KIS–have been selected to represent Thailand at Yale. [Ed. note: The WSC team contacted Wells on July 5th to inform us that a mistake had been made, and all three Wells teams had qualified. Wells will thus be fielding three of the five teams from Thailand!]  With a national championship and debate championship under their belts, the Wells scholars will undoubtedly do us proud once again. Good luck!

For full results of the 2012 Global Round of the World Scholar’s Cup and a list of participants for the Tournament of Champions, read the at the World Scholar’s Cup .

The post Wells Shines in 2012 World Scholar’s Cup Tournaments first appeared on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

The post Wells Shines in 2012 World Scholar’s Cup Tournaments appeared first on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Just one year after their debut in Shanghai, Wells students stormed into this year’s World Scholar’s Cup competition, garnering a total of nine awards, including three individual gold medals.

Sophomore Tsai Chi “Cathy” Shang Kuan captured two gold medals – one in the “Science: Biotechnology” category and one in the “Modern Metropolis” category. Her well-rounded performance was also enough to earn her a spot amongst the WSC Top 20 Scholars, placing 15^th overall in the Senior Division. This is Cathy’s second year at the international competition, having qualified for the 2010 Global Round held in Shanghai last year.

Capturing Wells’ other gold medal was fellow 10^th grader Jung Mo “Jack” Lee. Coincidentally, Jack received his medal in the “Modern Metropolis” category – in a 1^st place tie with Cathy. In the Scholar’s Challenge, which tests students’ combined knowledge across all WSC categories, Jack received his second medal, a bronze, with a 3^rd place finish. Jack also ranked in the WSC Top 20 Scholars list, placing 17^th overall in the Senior Division.

Ding Shun “Daryl” Ong, another sophomore, rounded off Wells’ domination of the “Modern Metropolis” category, placing 2^nd and bringing home a silver medal. Daryl also did well in the Scholar’s Challenge with a 7^th place finish.

Completing Wells’ awards cache was the senior team of Jack Lee, along with freshmen Amira Lukens and Praat “Tan” Sukriket. The threesome’s combined test scores were enough to capture 10^th place in the WSC Team Scholar’s Challenge.

Aside from the aforementioned students, representing Wells at the World Scholar’s Cup were:

• Junior Division – Lisa Brothers (Gr. 6), Muskaan Narula (Gr. 6), Anusha Shanishetti (Gr. 6), Asen Liu (Gr. 6), Peter Choi (Gr. 7), and Akhil Shanishetti (Gr. 8)
• Senior Division – Bo-An Shang Kuan (Gr. 9), Harjas Anandsongvit (Gr. 10), Gautham Giri Naganathan (Gr. 10), and Chan Lee (Gr. 11)

Two other international schools from Thailand also received awards. St. Andrews International School and Concordian International School won one award apiece.

Each year teams around the world compete in various events at national and regional rounds to qualify and prepare for the Global Round. Students write essays, debate on global issues, take an exhaustive exam on topics ranging from art to science, history and literature, all related to one central theme which varies from year to year. This year’s theme focused on the theme “A World Transformed.”

Founded in 2006, the World Scholar’s Cup is not about specialization in any single subject; it is about teamwork, thinking on your feet, and having a willingness to learn new things. Participants have the opportunity not just to win both individual and team awards, but also to explore new subjects and skills not normally covered in school. And, most importantly, students are given the opportunity to experience new cultures and forge new contacts with other future leaders from around the world.

Over 750 students representing 30 countries qualified for the WSC Global Round, converging onto Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the 4-day event. Thailand was well-represented with students from żŰżŰ´«Ă˝, Concordian International School, St. Andrews International School, Anglo-Singapore International School and International Community School (ICS).

The post World Champions…Again! first appeared on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

The post World Champions…Again! appeared first on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

Shanghai, China – Nearly 600 top students and future leaders from 20 countries came together at Concordia International School Shanghai, June 18-20, for the 2010 Global Round of the .

Each year, World Scholar’s Cup participants from around the world explore a different cutting-edge global theme. This year’s theme was “A World Divided”.

“It’s not just about political division,” confides the founder of the World Scholar’s Cup, Daniel Berdichevsky. “Students look at all kinds of divisions, both the ones we choose and the ones chosen for us: the divisions between the sick and the healthy, between men and women, between the wealthy and the poor, between different branches of the same religion… and, of course, between countries.”

Shanghai was the perfect venue for this year’s culminating Global Round. Explains Berdichevsky, “Not only is it a multicultural city straddling the divide between tradition and modernity, but the theme connects perfectly with the Shanghai (World) Expo—which is literally divided into exhibits from all around the world.”

At the tournament, students participated in four main events: team debate, a multiple choice challenge, persuasive writing, and a live-action quiz show.

In its first year entering the competition, żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ made an immediate impact. The team of Kaori Miyajima (Gr. 8), Amira Lukens (Gr. 8), and Pim Chuenkamolpun (Gr. 9) walked away with a 3^rd Place Team Trophy in the Junior Division Scholar’s Bowl event, in which teams raced the clock to answer a series of 72 questions in categories ranging from Literature, Science, Art, Economics, and even the Psychology of War.

In the Senior Division, Chan Young Lee (Gr. 10) was selected as one of six top debaters for the Debate Showcase, debating in front of an international audience of fellow scholars and teachers, to address the complex motion, “Peace, prosperity, and progress are ultimately the same thing.” Chan, representing Thailand, stood alongside students representing Vietnam, Indonesia, China, the Czech Republic, and the United States of America.

Also representing Wells were Juniors Surachet “Nick” Charaschanya, Ju Hyun “June” Song, and Juyeon “Jenny” Jin, and Freshmen Tsai Chi “Cathy” Shang Kuan and Gautham Giri Neelam Naganathan.

The World Scholar’s Cup was launched in spring 2007 with a ten-team, three-country tournament held in Korea. This year nearly 600 students (in 200 teams of three) will come to Shanghai from all corners of the globe. Many have already participated at recent regional rounds in Europe, Asia, North America, and the Middle East.

One highlight is the Scholar’s Scavenge, in which randomly-assigned teams of ten to twelve students from different countries race to solve clues and snap winning photos. This year’s Scholar’s Scavenge took place at the World Expo on Friday, June 18th. Students walked away not just with amazing photographs, but with friends they will interact with on the international stage for the rest of their lives.

On the first two days, tournament events, including Writing, the Scholar’s Challenge, and Team Debate, took place at Concordia International School Shanghai. And on June 20th, all teams migrated to the Shanghai Center Theater on East Nanjing Road for the climactic Scholar’s Bowl and closing ceremonies.

The World Scholar’s Cup is a nonprofit organization and depends on the generosity of its sponsors, including DemiDec, Meridia Audience Response Systems, Zip-Scan, Asia Clean Capital, the Princeton Review, and Zebra Pen Corp.

The post Wells Students Take on the World first appeared on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.

The post Wells Students Take on the World appeared first on żŰżŰ´«Ă˝ | American International School - Wells.