2021 Academic WorldQuest Competition Goes Virtual

May 01, 2021

Three monthly Zoom calls seemed like a far cry from a crowded UH Manoa Campus Center Ballroom. However, although the state-wide Academic WorldQuest Competition took a different form this year, students still came away from the competition with many smiles, prizes, and a wealth of knowledge about global affairs. 

The COVID-19 pandemic created a unique set of challenges for the 19th annual WorldQuest Competition. Unlike previous years, the 2021 competition was held over the course of three different nights in February, March, and April. Students gathered over Zoom to participate in the competition and used the online platform MyQuiz to submit their answers and track their scores. Although unprecedented, the new format actually encouraged greater engagement from students, and all three competitions saw exceptionally high rates of participant turnout. 

This year, a total of 243 students participated across the three months of competition. 18 different schools were represented from the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, and Maui. Although the Grand Prize of a trip to the national WorldQuest Competition in Washington D.C. was infeasible this year, a total of 18 different teams were able to earn prizes through the generous sponsorship of the Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation. 

This year’s prize structure provided participants with greater flexibility to choose their rewards – and also created strong incentives for students to excel in all three nights of competition. At the end of every monthly competition, the top three teams received prize money ranging from $150 to $50. Although a top three winner for one month could not receive another monthly reward for the remainder of the competition, participants could continue to accumulate points across all three competitions. Following the final April competition, participants’ total points were calculated, and the top ten teams overall received grand prize money on top of any rewards earned in previous months. Teams could then look through the WorldQuest Gift Registry to decided how to best spend their reward money. To students’ excitement, prizes ranged organic tote bags to Spotify subscriptions to Nintendo Switches, and many gift options featured local or sustainable businesses. 

The unique format of this year’s WorldQuest provided valuable opportunities for students to review the material in manageable blocks, while also incentivizing participants to remain on top of their current events for longer periods of time. Each competition included two official categories from the World Affairs Council of America, as well as a current events category quizzing students on their knowledge of recent global affairs. Although the questions covered everything from the Tokyo Olympic Games to protests in Chile, participants rose to the challenge and showed a strong understanding of the material. Notably, Kayla Lim-Tam of Kalani High School excelled throughout all three months, earning first place in each of the competitions and becoming the well-deserved recipient of the 2021 Grand Prize. 

Despite the virtual setting, students still found ways to connect with each other and foster friendly competition. For all three competitions, students turned on their cameras to reveal their smiling faces and typed their expectant reactions in the Zoom chat as they waited for MyQuiz to reveal the correct answers. When the winners were announced at the end of the three nights, students’ pride and excitement was clear, even through their computer screens. 

Erica Nakanishi-Stanis, PAAC’s Study Tour Director and WorldQuest administrator said, “We were thrilled to be able to hold WorldQuest this year despite the challenges. In a year where many students had to settle for online learning that may have been less engaging, with a little creative restructuring, flexibility, and increasing students’ choices, we were able to show that virtual learning can actually be exciting and compelling.”

Once again, thank you to the Mamoru and Aiko Takitani Foundation for sponsoring this year’s competition and prizes.

Topics: 

  • Global Protests
  • Looking to a Post-Pandemic Economy
  • U.S. Foreign Service in the 21st Century
  • Fraying Alliances
  • Uzbekistan
  • The International Labor Organization
  • Current Events

Prize Winners:

February 2021:

  • Kalani Team of 1 
  • Waiakea A Team
  • HPA Ka Makani

March 2021:

  • IPH Homeschool
  • Sacred Hearts Academy Lancers 
  • Keaau Worm Time Babey the Sequel 

April 2021:

  • Kalani Number 2 Team
  • Sacred Hearts Academy Team 5 
  • Waipahu Team Damwon

2021 Top Ten Overall:

  • Kalani Team of 1
  • HPA Ka Makani
  • Waiakea A Team
  • Keaau Worm Time Babey the Sequel 
  • IPH Homeschool 
  • Kalani Falcons
  • Waipahu Team Damwon
  • Kalani Number 2 Team
  • Assets Team 1 
  • Priory Pride ’22