Waking up at 6 on a weekend is never easy.  It’s even harder when you think you’re going to “nerdcon” as some other people put it.  But as soon as you arrive at the Po Leung Kuk Choi Kai Yau school in the middle of nowhere, you realize that there’s more to the whole thing than just studies.  When you enter the auditorium and see soft toys strewn all over the stage, you realize that this is going to be good.  When the hosts begin the event by singing Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” and spouting memes, you know that this is going to be fun.  And fun it was.  Yes the Scholar’s Challenge, the 120 question long multiple choice paper that you have to complete in 60 minutes, was not fun.  But the lunch afterwards, gorging ourselves on beef pasta and playing soccer definitely was fun.  Most of us were famished by lunch time due to doing both the persuasive writing and scholar’s challenge consecutively.  After lunch, it was time for the debates.  Each team would have 3 debates on topics related to this year’s theme “An Unlikely World”. Along with being able to practice our public speaking skills, we also made many new friends from other schools who were our opponents.

The next morning being able to wake up at seven was a blessing in no disguise. Minds full of Schrodinger’s cat and a painting of a Nubian giraffe, we strode into PLKCKY (yeah, plucky is a great alternative nickname) feeling pretty confident about the day ahead.

First up: the Scholar’s Bowl, a team event in which my team (Akash, Gabriel and I) happily got first place in (!!!).Lunch was next, along with receiving the alpacas that everyone (yep, everyone) had been eyeballing the past 48 hours- then came the Scholar’s show and the Scholar’s Debate, a talent show and the mother of all debates in which the top eight (Ryan you did great!) debaters in HK took part, respectively. It was then time for the award ceremony, where it truly did feel like a red carpet whenever your name was displayed onto the large screen, acknowledging all the hard work you had done over the past two days with medals and trophies. Our team came top third in HK, with other FIS teams not far behind. Many individuals in FIS were top scholars in HK and I can definitely say that this will be one of the highlights of this year!

All in all, we (Akash and Rachel), thought that WSC was (and is, and will be,) a great educational experience that gave us so much to look forward to, and taught us to take into account what has happened, and is happening, around the world and in our daily lives with questions relevant to our society in the now. Not only did we learn academic skills, but it broadened our social abilities and more than we could ever imagine.

With everyone who participated from FIS getting into the Hanoi round, we’re coming to grab even more medals and trophies (and alpacas) than ever before! WE (PUAA)MISE!