Cayman Prep and High School has repeated as the winner of the annual KPMG Brain Bowl Academic Tournament, held at the Kimpton Seafire Resort on Wednesday.
St. Ignatius Catholic School came second, followed by Triple C School.
More than 120 students and teachers from 17 high schools took part in the 25-round tournament, with the four-person teams testing their knowledge on subjects such as mathematics, English, science, religion, history, the Caribbean, spelling and current events.
During the intense final round, the moderator had not completed asking the question, before Cayman Prep’s Nalani Swan pressed the buzzer and answered, earning six points, to four for St. Ignatius.
The question: This animal has an appetite for insects. Its long snout and tongue enable it to burrow under the earth for its dinner. Name it. The answer: Anteater.
“We are so proud of the CPHS Brain Bowl team. They worked very hard in preparation for the competition, and we’re delighted that their hard work paid off,” said Lina Gibson, coach for the Cayman Prep students.
“They showed great teamwork and dedication and were supportive of each other and the other teams throughout the whole day.
“A big thank you to KPMG for an enhancing educational experience and a huge well done to all schools who participated. The atmosphere was supportive, happy and exciting… and tense.”
The winning students each earned a Nintendo Switch Lite, the second-place team members a Garmin Smartwatch, and the third place squad JBL Flip 6 bluetooth speakers.
John Gray High School took home the Sportsmanship Award.
This year, organisers introduced two new awards. The KPMG Blue Diamond Award was presented to the teacher/coach of each school. The Most Valuable Participant Award – given to one male, Christian Campbell, from Clifton Hunter High School, and one female, Suwayne Young-Watson, from Layman Scott High School – recognised outstanding contributions to the tournament.
The theme for this year’s event was marking its 10th anniversary by commemorating the success of students and schools over the years.
Sheenah Hislop was the ‘brains’ behind the academic tournament. She is an alumni partner at KPMG, who retired from the firm after 35 years.
“Over the years, we have witnessed a growth in enthusiasm amongst the schools, healthy competition and a rising level of academic achievement in the tournament. This is reassuring as you are tomorrow’s agents,” said Hislop, during her welcome remarks.
“Tournaments like the Brain Bowl ignite a sense of civic purpose and a determination to be more collaborative, innovative, creative and challenging across all that we do,” she said.
DeAnn Blackman, tournament director as well as manager, local talent development and corporate citizenship, at KPMG, told the Compass the aim is to unite local schools and stretch their academic abilities.
“We invite all of the high schools, including the home school association, to enter a team. They have the opportunity to meet new peers [and] network, and it’s an educational opportunity for them as well,” she said.
Blackman added some schools formed their own Brain Bowl club, holding preliminary tournaments to identify their team members.
On hand to support the event were Premier Wayne Panton, Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, Speaker of Parliament Katherine Ebanks-Wilks, Ministry of Education officials and representatives of KPMG. Parents and friends were able to watch the tournament through a live stream.
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