A team of students from 156 Primary School “Vasil Levski” in Kremikovtsi neighborhood have made it to the global round of the prestigious international competition “The World Scholar’s Cup” in Barcelona. 

The final round of the competition in the capital of Catalonia will take place in July 21 to 27, 2018. The students need to finance their travel and accommodation, if they want to compete. They are already working on a financial plan and are raising funds by contacting individual donors and businesses with the help of their teacher Antonia Vasileva, who teaches English and mathematics at the school and is a participant in Teach For Bulgaria’s program.

More information

“The World Scholar’s Cup” is an international tournament for students under the age of 17. It is entirely in English and has several elements: debates in English, individual and team science tests, an essay on the annual topic (the topic for 2018 is “Diplomacy and Friendship”), and a final round – a team quiz.

The national round of the competition took place in St. George International School & Preschool in February. The team from 156 Primary School “Vasil Levski” participated thanks to the support and encouragement of their teacher Antonia Vasileva. The fifth-graders Ivanina Sharapova, Borislav Gyoshev, and Daniel Leonidov, as well as Tsvetan Svilenov in seventh grade competed against students coming from some of the best schools in the country. Despite having to compete in an unfamiliar environment, despite their anxiety, insecurity, and the pressure of the challenge, the students from the small school in Kremikovtsi managed to achieve high scores and qualified for the global round of the competition.

“We were very excited the day before the competition and it was a great experience for us. We’ll never forget it. We met a lot of children who are from Bulgaria. We competed against students from England the first day, which we thought was not fair, but at least we tried. We didn’t do very well, but we kept getting better and better with every challenge. And this is how we qualified for the next round which is going to take place in Barcelona, Spain. We’ll spend five days there. The debates will take place in the first three days and then we’ll represent Bulgaria at the Culture Festival. We’ll also go on a tour around the city which is known as ‘the city of Gaudi’,” Iva, Bobi, and Daniel shared their experience and expectations.

They need your support

The finalists from Kremikovtsi, however, still have a long way to go. They need to find funding for their travel expenses and accommodation. The students created a presentation about their success so far and the funds they would need to go to the finals. With the help of their teacher and their donors they managed to raise a big chunk of the necessary amount in just a few months and now they just need to finance their accommodation. They would need about 1500 Euro.

If you want to support these students, contact their teacher Antonia Vasileva at a.vasileva@zaednovchas.bg.  We promise to let you know how they did at the finals.We