Geo-Challenge 2012 Champions – members of BST Team 1. (Left to right: Kyoka Hadano, Dario Capannelli, Sean Young, and Anik Parayil.) BST
Earlier this year the Indian Embassy in Tokyo played host to the inaugural Tokyo Inter School Geo-Challenge. This involved five teams going head-to-head over nine challenging rounds of geographically themed questions.
The event was created in order to give middle school students of geography an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding in a friendly competitive format, and corporate sponsorship provided the prizes and trophies.
Teams of four students represented The British School in Tokyo (BST), KAIS International School, and India International School in Japan (IISJ hosted and organized the event). Teams were tested in the fields of human and physical geography, as well as map reading, observation, interpretation, and general knowledge.
The first round, aptly named “Globe Trek,” featured questions based on each of the world’s continents. A correct answer allowed teams to progress to the next continent until all seven continents were covered. BST managed to score maximum points, putting them into an early lead.
The “Alphabet” round saw the emphasis switch from teams to individuals as each team member was required to answer an individual question. A strong round for IISJ allowed them to gain ground on BST, which eventually led to an exciting and extremely close finish between the two.
After nine rounds it was neck and neck between IISJ and BST, resulting in a tiebreaker. There could only be one winner, and it was BST who were crowned the inaugural Geo-Challenge Champions. They gracefully shook hands with their competitors and joyfully received the winning trophy from the event sponsors.
The baton now passes to BST to host and defend the title. The school looks forward to Geo-Challenge 2013 and hopes that many more schools will take part and give their students an exciting opportunity to showcase their knowledge and understanding. — THOMAS SHEARD
