After joining the program back in 2018 (as Havana was on its rise to power) as an aspiring scholar in Turkey, Güney, kumqwaat’s founder, had fallen in love and never seeked to turn back. For Güney, they saw the program as more than just a competition, it was an opportunity to explore the vast global community and bring together individuals from all around the world as thus, the birth of kumqwaat. A regular day in Güney’s life may include programming advanced systems which may one day completely take over kumqwaat (also known as coding), hosting 8 bowls a week, staring at large spreadsheets that nobody understands or stressing out over bowl deadlines. In the future, Güney hopes to transform kumqwaat into something greater than itself and continue to work towards forming bonds and bridging scholars from all corners of the Earth. Nobody really knows how Güney does all of this but we’re glad that they do!
Tuğçe has a name where one of the letters isn't supported by our font. She also found the name "kumqwaat" and drew the logo.
Hailing from Thailand, Matt is one of the individuals on the team that is most likely to be hosting a bowl with absolutely no knowledge of the content and also the most likely to advertise Pwaaparation (which happens at every bowl). Matt stumbled upon Güney in a discord voice channel, where he was complemented on his “WSC-style” accent. Since then, he has joined kumqwaat in hosting regular bowls and has become a regular within the community both writing and hosting bowls (among other things). During bowls, you may often find Matt on the streets of London, eating Yakiniku (his favourite food!) or at the airport catching a plane. Wherever Matt is, he’ll always be sure to stop by at every mock bowl (usually) and host a quick question or two before disappearing once again.
Ethan "John Pocketpwaa" Wang was deathly afraid of social interaction with cats until he first came across one in China. Now, he spends his time at cat cafes and at curriculum references, calling Guney every time he goes to one. If he isn't talking to scholars, he's probably practicing his shíshì shīshì Shī Shì, shì shī, shì shí shí shī.
