INDONESIAN STUDENTS WIN THREE TROPHIES, 38 MEDALS AT WORLD SCHOLAR'S CUP

A team of Indonesian students from National High Jakarta School won three trophies and 38 medals in the global stage of the World Scholar's Cup, an academic competition involving thousands of students from more than 100 countries, in Barcelona, Spain, in late July.

The team, comprising ninth graders Putri Aimee Srijaya, Nadya Annabelle Lumy and Erin Michelle, first participated in a regional round that was held in Jakarta in May this year.

In Jakarta, the team won a trophy for coming fifth in the Challenge category, one of four categories in the competition and one that covered six subjects. Overall, the team won 26 medals in Jakarta before qualifying for the global stage in Barcelona.

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Both the regional and global rounds of the competition comprised four categories: Challenge, Debate, Collaborative Writing and Scholar's Bowl.

"We were given around one to two months to prepare for this competition. We practiced debate by going against other teams in our school whilst our coach gave us feedback," Erin said in an email interview on Tuesday.

Nadya added that the team studied and conducted research every day leading up to the competition.

The team eventually won three trophies in the global round, one for coming fourth in Southeast Asia and one each for ranking ninth and tenth as the Best Debate Team in the world and Best Overall Team in the world, respectively. In addition to the trophies, the Indonesians won 38 medals in Barcelona.

 Nadya Annabelle Lumy (left), Putri Aimee Srijaya (center) and Erin Michelle pose for a photo with the three trophies and 38 medals they won at the World Scholar's Cup in Barcelona. (Courtesy of Aimee Dawis/File)

When asked about their most memorable experience, the participants expressed enthusiasm over having met people from different parts of the world and making new friends.