I came into my role at an international school a few years ago and had a warning from others that
World Scholar's Cup (WSC) was a difficult group to work with. Despite that, I tried to keep an open mind when they reached out to have us host for the fourth consecutive time for their event in our city.
Planning for the round
This email was sent to a person at our school with the same first name as me. They forwarded it to me. I have removed all names, dates, and school information.
Good Morning,
I hope this email finds you well. We are looking forward to conducting the X Round of the World Scholar's Cup at your school again. Thank you for hosting the event for the fourth time. The event will run from 8.30 am to 6 pm on both days. Registrations have started coming in and we will be able to provide you the final numbers in the first week of X. Kindly let us know how many students from your school would be participating. I am attaching the form that could be used to register your students.
We will be arranging all the supplies including the banners, trophies, medals, printing etc.
In terms of the requirements from your school, we would like to request for the following
1. Access to around 25-30 classrooms (the actual number will depend on the final number of registrations) on the first day
2. Use of the theater for the opening ceremony on the first morning and a debate briefing after lunch that day. We will require the theater for the entire second day.
3. Use of the small conference room as the command center for our team on both days.
4. A room to train the adults to adjudicate debates.
4. Lunch on both days for all students and adults.
5. Snacks for students and adults in the afternoon on both days (maybe cookies and juice for the students). Adults judging debates would appreciate some tea / coffee during the day. The tea / coffee for the debate judges could be kept in the room where the training will be conducted for them.
6. Access to a high speed scanner on the first day.
7. It would be nice if around six teachers / parent volunteers could come in on the first day to judge debates.
We would be happy to pay for the meals, snacks and any other expenses that might be incurred. Our team will arrive the day before the event in the afternoon with the supplies and banners. We would need some help from your staff in fixing the banners.
Please let me know if you have any questions. We look forward to working with you and your school team.
After some pleasantries back and forth where I correct the address he mailed to and started to work on the logistics, I asked for a graphic for us to use for a sign to put up. They sent a graphic for us to use. We had it printed and put up to help promote the event. I asked for final numbers a week before the event so we could communicate with our kitchen. They said they would close the registration 5 days before so they could give me firm numbers. Ten days before the event they emailed to say they had 400 students signed up and would need over 40 rooms. They informed me that each debate room needed to have chairs and desks for six students and an adjudicator. I lined them up and reminded them that the rooms would need to be returned to the same condition they received them in. They asked about dropping off materials earlier in the week. I indicated that Tuesday would be best. We even set a time. They never showed up.
STRIKE ONE. Later they said they would come at 11 on the day before the event, and that others would come at 3 to set up rooms. When I asked what setup was needed, they said "We usually rearrange the furniture a bit for the debates. We place three chairs and desks facing each other with a chair for the debate judge on one side. We'll try to do that after the teaching staff leaves." Our teams tried to register, but the forms were closed. They informed me that they had over 500 participants so had closed the registration early. They allowed our teams to register despite their early closure of the forms. We had two teams of three -- just six of the over 500 participants were form our school.
The day before the round
11 AM passed.
STRIKE TWO. By 12:30 I emailed the coordinators to ask when they would arrive, because I had a meeting at 2 with our theater manager to work out last minute needs they might have. They said that one of their flights was delayed and they were still at the airport, but that one of their team members would be to the school by 2 for the meeting.
When they did arrive they had a huge pile of materials that they wanted our school's custodial staff to move around for them. I relented, but told them that they were renting our facilities, not our staff. Then things went bad. They informed me that one of the coordinators was detained at immigration, and asked if we could contact the US Consulate on his behalf to see if we could get him into the country.
STRIKE THREE. I explained that it was not possible, that a visa is issued by the country we live in at their discretion and that the school would not intervene if immigration had decided to decline one. It wasn't long before I had a call from a school administrator who had heard from the US Consulate that someone was claiming to be detained that was coming for our school. I explained that they were renting our facilities and that we had a few students participating, but that plenty of other schools in the city had much larger groups coming for the event. The administrator warned me that the consular official was not pleased to be put in the position of being asked to intervene.
STRIKE FOUR. In the end I learned that they had been repeatedly coming into the country for two-night stays on a tourist visa and had been deported for falsifying the purpose of their visit.
The show went on. They had brought a team of three locals, not on our list of people to expect, to assemble a metal frame for signs identical to the digital files we had already printed and posted. One was the same size as the one we had up and another was freestanding and assembled outside of our theater entrance. I noted my frustration that we had already paid to have an identical sign printed and put up already. With classrooms finally vacant on a Friday afternoon they started to put signs up on the more than 40 rooms we had for them. They asked where the maintenance staff were that would be re-arranging the rooms.
STRIKE FIVE. I told them that it was just them and myself. Nobody else would be helping with this. I spent nearly two hours at the school positioning the tables and chairs in the rooms with them, putting up signs with tape we supplied.
STRIKE SIX.
The first day
By this point, the strikes against them were really swinging my attempt at being unbiased. I went into the school for a Saturday. It comes with the job. But these issues definitely had me on edge. Students from other schools began to arrive. I had word then from our security staff. 14 schools had students come that did not bring a chaperone. We were given no medical information on any of the students and had no emergency contact information for any of the attendees.
STRIKE SEVEN. I noted the student safety concern that raises to the WSC staff. I then informed our security staff to not allow any adults to leave campus unless there was at least one other adult from that school present on campus. Multiple times through the day I was called down because the sole staff member or parent chaperone from a school wanted to leave. I told them that if they left we would have to find the students from their school and remove them. Nothing like having to be nasty to people.
STRIKE EIGHT. I don't work on the weekends to have to scold adults. I do it so that students have opportunities.
The second day
On the second day three MORE schools showed up with no adult to oversee the students in ADDITION to the 14 that didn't have adults come for the first day. We let them all in and I informed WSC staff that we were being put in dangerous positions. That a student could have a severe allergy, that we don't know any of the behaviors of the students that might cause concern, that we have no emergency contact information, and that we have no adult that will ensure the students adhere to our school's rules and expectations of visitors -- agreements that adults coming to campus sign on arrival.
I was asked to help distribute the awards. I went to the auditorium at the planned time for the awards ceremony. A few young volunteers were in the theater, but none of the adults running the program. for almost 45 minutes beyond the stated start time students were throwing stuffed alpacas in the air, eating and drinking food (against our theater rules) and generally disrespecting the space. Our theater manager informed me that they had many requests that were not mentioned in the meeting we had on the Friday before the event.
STRIKE NINE.
They finally started. First, though, a
slick promotional video to get everyone excited about the real reason they were all there -- to be able to get a chance to go to the WSC Tournament of Champions at Yale! But first, they have to qualify for one of the Global Rounds and then score high enough to be able to attend the Tournament of Champions at Yale. Then I am called down to help give out awards. Within minutes I am lost. There are hundreds of medals. Slides with dozens of students listed on them flash up for just a few seconds on the screen as the students come to stage to get their medals. I start to give one student a medal and am scolded because they are supposed to get a trophy.
STRIKE TEN. I leave the stage and go to the back to watch as the rest of the medals and trophies are distributed. Most students seem to be wearing multiple medals. Gold and silver medals are awarded based on point thresholds -- not for first or second place. It would be possible for every one of the hundreds of participants at this one city's regional round to get a gold medal for each of the five events. I brood.
You see, I have a son with physical disabilities. He's not likely to ever make a sports team or stand at a podium and receive a medal. He has developmental and learning disabilities too, so school is tough for him. He doesn't get the grades his peers are capable of. Grades are the reward for academic skills. Those awards pay dividends as the toll to get into colleges and thus desirable and stable careers, right? Seeing smart kids be further rewarded suddenly stung.
The awards ceremony moves on to the final phase. Announcing the teams that qualified to move on to the next level -- the Global Rounds. Quickly slides flash past. Shrieks of joy from students mix with the clatter of the medals they are wearing. And then I can start to hear the kids in front of me that are closest. They are excitedly calling their parents to tell them they qualified for the Global round in Barcelona or Sydney...
The aftermath
Immediately after the awards ceremony people leave. I think the coordinators left before some of the students. They left behind all of the boxes ad plastic packaging for the trophies and medals. They left the bags that the alpacas came in. They left behind the metal frames and signs for the event. They left huge stacks of paperwork used for the essays and multiple choice tests. They made no effort to clean any of this up. It was expected that we'd take care of it for them.
STRIKE ELEVEN. Hosting WSC strained my workplace relationships with the theater manager, the custodial and maintenance crews, and the administration. After we received payment I informed them that next year's round would not be hosted by our school. We rotate through hosting locations for our sports, music and theater festivals, we should share the responsibility with other schools in our city as well.
So, after much hesitation, we’ve launched a GoFundMe, with no idea whether it will do more to help us endure this crisis or to undermine our credibility. We’d be grateful if you could share it with anyone who might be able to support the program, even in small ways. We’d also be happy to count any contributions now toward registration fees later.
