Welcome to CAS Profiles, where we exhibit the completed CAS Projects of IB Diploma students at SASPD.
CAS, which stands for “Creativity, Activity, Service”, is a component of the IB Diploma Program, which requires students to complete a month-long activity following the stages of investigation, preparation, action, reflection, and demonstration. There are virtually no restrictions to activities students are allowed to do, but they must be collaborative and include at least one strand of creativity, activity, or service. The project process involves not only the main project, but also a series of reflections.
Quizbowl, a battle of the wits! Minji, Sean, and Joshua expanded on their love for the academic sport to organize a day of spirited competition. Hounded by last-minute Covid changes, the three navigated remarkably well and saw their efforts culminate into a high-stress, but successful online tourney joining schools from all across Shanghai.
Interview conducted with Minji Ryu 23’, Sean Zhao 23’, and Joshua Zhang 23’.
q) Could you introduce your project?
a) Our CAS Project was to plan and host an in-person Quiz Tournament at SAS. Quiz Bowl is a competitive academic activity where participants, in teams of 4, compete to answer questions on a plethora of subjects, including history, literature, fine arts, science, math, and pop culture. This also creates an environment for bonding between different schools in Shanghai, where teams from 16 international schools from all around Shanghai were invited to compete in a day-long tournament that enables students to engage and interact with each other in the pursuit of knowledge. The purpose of our CAS Project was to provide international students interested in Quiz Bowl an opportunity to compete, engage, and bond with like-minded individuals in a moderated, NAQT-style environment.
q) I remember it was lots of fun! Now the scale of this project seems quite large, 16 schools! Could you tell me a bit about what needed to be done in terms of planning for it?
a) I (Minji) was in charge of the communications part. I arranged for teams from different schools (SASPD, SASPX, CISS, etc) to participate and sent out information and updates in our WeChat group. In addition to communicating with teams, I also communicated with teachers and faculty members who were willing to help out at the tournament. We compiled a list of teachers who have shown interest in helping, then we formally emailed them and asked if they would like to help read and moderate. We had also gotten with Dr. Lee to discuss covid protocols for visitors, and created an information doc including info such as date, rules, lunch, and transport. This was before we realized we had to move online!
I (Sean) was responsible for the bureaucratic side of things, which meant contacting NAQT—National Academic Quiz Tournament, (something of a central Quizbowl authority/governing body), to register our tournament and players in an official database there, and ordering the actual questions that we’d be playing during the tournament. I also helped with the financial side of things and calculated the costs of the packets and food and transportation before we decided to switch over to an online tourney, along with working with our supervisor Ms. Krzesowiak to notify participating schools about the fees and set up a payment/fapiao system. Most of my work was done during the prep phase of the tourney since I needed to be playing during the tourney itself.
I (Joshua) was in charge of logistics. I was supposed to communicate with admin and the activities office about people being on campus, contacting teachers to open their rooms etc…but obviously, the event ended up being online so that didn’t really go through. My original work was more oriented toward in-person logistics, which is coming into handy this year, because we’re doing an in-person tournament. But since last year my tasks weren’t too applicable, I just shifted to what Sean was doing. (Planning the tournament with the excel sheet, score keeping, etc…)
q) Having to move online so suddenly because of Covid must’ve thrown a wrench in the plans! How did you guys navigate that change?
a) There were a lot of challenges the day of the tournament too because of people leaving for Covid tests, Zoom lags, and team-level mismatches, etc…But we were able to overcome these challenges. We took on temporary roles such as scorekeeping and reading when people were unexpectedly pulled away for Covid tests, and all worked on inputting tournament information into the necessary documents.
q) I know Cas projects are usually a one-time thing, but do you guys have plans to organize this again in an effort to make it in person? If so, are there any new additions you think you’d make (from past takeaways)?
a) Actually yes! We are planning another one right now. We’re thinking of calling it the Final Showdown (since last year’s was the Spring Showdown). This time we’re hoping to invite teams from international schools in China, not just Shanghai. And it will (hopefully) be in person! We also have two underclassmen (Emily 25’ and Blake 26’ ) helping us so they can see what it’s like to plan a Quizbowl tournament.
As for past takeaways, after last year’s tournament, we created a survey and sent it to all the players and moderators that participated in our event. We wanted to gather constructive criticism to see what we did well on and what we needed to improve. The overall experience rating was close to 8/10, zoom experience (lags, etc.) 7/10, ranking system and matchups 7/10, and the likelihood of coming to another tournament of ours 8.5/10. We were pretty satisfied with our reviews.