Caltex, part of the global Chevron Corporation and the Western Cape Branch of SAIIA, hosted their 17th Annual Interschool Quiz on Wednesday, 13 May 2009.
The 2009 Quiz will be remembered for several innovations. These centred on a general expansion and developmental initiatives targeting less-resourced schools. Our long-term sponsor Chevron's ongoing interest and support, with increased funding in 2009, enabled us to both expand the quiz and focus on these developmental activities. Ten more schools were added to the competition, making this the largest Quiz to date. With forty-five participants a new venue was urgently sought and we thank Mr Phil Court and the Diocesan College (Bishops) for so readily offering us their facilities. On the night of the Quiz a reception was hosted for the teachers from the schools, while SAIIA ran a Careers Table adjacent to the Registration area.
On 28 March, we were able to provide a Workshop to assist these less resourced schools in their preparation for the Quiz, this was ably run by Tim Hughes and was held at Bishops.
Jonathan Stead was the Master of Ceremonies again, John Maytham, the well known Cape Talk radio host, was the Question Master, and was, as always, well received by the learners and audience. 1500 books, wall charts and posters, were donated to the schools by the publishers of Cape Town. Twenty questions were posed to the school teams, four learners per team. Belgravia High School from Athlone topped the log with 41 points (out of a possible 45!) winning the first prize of R4000 and taking home the Caltex Floating Trophy. Belgravia was four points clear of Jan van Riebeeck High School, second on 41 points, winning R2000, and Rhenish emerged in third place from a tie break with Cravenby Secondary School and Westerford High School.
Jonathan Stead spoke of the 75th Anniversary of the founding of SAIIA, in Cape Town in 1934 and also of the emphasis put on SAIIA's Youth Development Programme. Paddy Attwell, Director of Communications for the Provincial Department of Education, spoke of his department's recognition and acknowledgement of the importane of the Quiz. Miranda Anthony, Public Affairs Manager of Chevron, encouraged all the learners saying that all the teams had been successful just by their preparation and participating in the Quiz.
The Mallett Centre was all-but-full to capacity with learners, a very supportive audience and personnel totalling approximately 500 people.
2010 Quiz hopes to built on the developmental experiences and help prepare more educators for their teaching of international affairs through more workshops.
