On Saturday 27 February, the School entered two teams into the International History Bee and Bowl tournament of Hong Kong. This was the largest competition of its kind in the world to date, with over 38 different teams and 113 students taking part from across the region. The format of the competition involves a series of ‘on-the-buzzer’ rounds with both an individual (the Bee) and a team (the Bowl) component, where participants attempt to answer questions on a vast range of history.
The Prep School team of Julien Levieux (Y8, Downes), Jake Brockwell (Y7, Downes), Kevin Zheng (Y8, Downes), Hughson Wong (Y8, Downes), Oscar Kennedy (Y7, Downes), and Russell Kwok (Y6, Fox) did exceptionally well, especially as many of the students in other teams were from Year 9. In the individual section of the competition, there were notable achievements from Kevin, who finished fifth overall, Russell, who finished third overall, and Julien, who claimed second place in a tense and exciting final.
The Senior School team of Gary Feng (Y10, Nightingale), Jonathan Lau (Y10, Nightingale), David Wong (Y10, Cale), Werner Groenestijn (Y10, Lloyd), and Edison Tsang (Y10, Waterman), also had considerable success. In the individual component, there were stand out achievements from Werner, who finished fourth overall.
It was in the team event, however, that the school teams performed most strongly. Here both the Prep and Senior teams made it all the way to the final of their respective division, and emerged victorious following very tense and hard fought matches.
All involved should be congratulated on an excellent achievement that also saw every student qualify for the Asian Championships in Phuket later in the year where they will be up against the best of Asia.