Cayman Prep wins the 2024 KPMG Brain Bowl Academic Tournament

KPMG hosted the 11th Annual KPMG Brain Bowl Academic Tournament today, Wednesday, October 9, 2024 at the Hotel Indigo Grand Cayman.

All high schools across Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac were invited to the Jeopardy-style event, where 13 schools competed, with around 90 students in attendance.

The students performed exceptionally, with a special congratulations to Cayman Prep & High School who took first place, with Triple C School and John Gray High School placing in second and third, respectively. This is the third consecutive year that Cayman Prep have won the tournament.

Brain Bowl is an annual high school tournament that has been taking place for over a decade. The aim of the competition is to unite local schools and encourage pupils to enhance their academic abilities, work as a team and develop critical thinking skills. Under timed test conditions, teams are tested on various subjects such as Mathematics, English, Science, Caribbean History, spelling and current events.

This years’ theme was Innovation and Digitization; commemorating the technological advancements which have been essential to students and schools over the years. Code(Cayman) and TechCayman joined the event, bringing their robot for the students to interact with. Niko Whittaker, Local Talent Development Partner, KPMG LLP, introduced special guest speaker, Dr. Chris Joseph, Higher Education Leader and Innovator at the International College of the Cayman Islands (ICCI), who spoke to the students on the future of AI, the importance of emotional intelligence and what digitization of the Cayman Islands may look like in the years to come.

Schools each entered a team of five players, from various grade levels within high school. KPMG provided resources on the academic topics, guidelines and study tools to help teams prepare for the tournament.

The first-place prizes were a mini projector for each student and a $5,000 gift voucher for the winning school to spend on school supplies. Second place prizes were Fujifilm Instax for each student and third place was a Smartwatch prize for all members of the team.

Hon. Isaac Rankine, The Minister of Youth, Sports & Heritage, Hon. Kenneth Bryan, MP, The Minister for Tourism & Ports, Mr. Elroy Bryan, Acting Deputy Chief Officer for the Ministry of Education, Mr. Mark Ray, Director, Department of Education Services and Mrs. Kimberly Kirkconnell, Senior Customer Services Manager, Department of Education Services, attended the event.

Many of KPMG’s Partners, including Managing Partner, Wanda Mellaneo were present during the day of the competition. Yuri Williams, Local Career Development Partner, was the tournament Moderator, with Joel Dodson, Partner and Head of Citizenship as the Master of Ceremonies. Many other of KPMG’s people attended as volunteers, judges and scorekeepers.

Parents and other guests were invited to come and support the students’ performance in the afternoon to watch the final rounds. The event was also available to live stream via the KPMG in the Cayman Islands YouTube Channel, providing an opportunity for family and friends to cheer on the teams throughout the day.

Congratulations to all who participated in this year’s tournament.

Cayman Prep wins the 2024 KPMG Brain Bowl Academic Tournament

List of winners:

First place - Cayman Prep and High School

Second place - Triple C School

Third place – John Gray High School

Winning Team – Cayman Prep and High School team:

Team: Emily Ch’ng, Zachery Garnett, Charles Player, Aleque-Benjamin Bennett, Dylan Levy.

Coaches: Megan Crean and Lina Gibson.

The following schools participated in the 2024 KPMG Brain Bowl Academic Tournament:

• Calvary Baptist Christian Academy

• Cayman Academy

• Cayman International School

• Cayman Prep and High School

• CF School

• Clifton Hunter High School

• Grace Christian Academy

• John Gray High School

• Layman E. Scott Sr. High School

• St. Ignatius Catholic School

• Triple C School

• Wesleyan Christian Academy

• Year 12 Dual Enrollment