On February 24, the World Scholar’s Cup team held their final practice before a competition in Washington, D.C.

The meeting began with a brief overview of the Scholar’s Bowl, which is a Jeopardy-style quiz in which Scholars use their knowledge of the competition’s subjects in order to answer questions and gain points.

The team members then polished their argumentation skills in one final debate, the topic of which was “Is cheating death justified?” Students were broken into four teams of three, each of which chose to either support or oppose the topic, known as a resolution. Two teams argued against each other in one contest, while the other Scholars present judged their performances.

Emily Barbagallo, a member of one group arguing in support of the resolution, made a point that, because all humans have a right to life, cheating death is, indeed, justified.

“John Locke stated that human beings have three basic, natural rights: life, liberty and property,” she said. “Because all people have a right to life above all else, cheating death is justified.”

At the end of the meeting, Scholars ordered pizza as a reward for the work that they had accomplished and to celebrate the team that they had become a part of.

The team will travel to the British School of Washington in D.C. on Saturday and Sunday to compete in the World Scholar’s Cup against teams from countries all over the world in debate, essay writing, quiz, and multiple-choice test contests. If you see Brendan McCann, Burke Roberts, Dalton Monague, Emily Barbagallo, Garrett Wiehler, Hugh Norko, James Ensor, Kasal Smaha, Laura Glawe, Maleeha Coleburn, Richard Zhang, or Samantha Buckman, be sure to wish them luck this weekend!