By Jenne Lajiun
Sandakan school emerges winner in Sabah-level National Science Challenge
KOTA KINABALU: The SM Sung Siew Sandakan team won the Sabah-level 2018 National Science Challenge held at Universiti Malaysia Sabah, yesterday.
The Sandakan team will be representing Sabah at the semifinal that will be held from August 9 to 15 at Universiti Teknologi Mara, Skudai.
The team members were Jung Bing Heng Jensen, Rania Florian John Modoit and Mitrina Ernesta Nestor. Their mentor teacher was Chong Yiing Yiing.
According to Academy of Sciences Malaysia Fellow and chairman of the National Science Challenge Steering Committee, Professor Dr Noorsaadah Abdul Rahman, the winner of the Sabahlevel competition will also be attending a one-week residential science camp at UTM.
She said if the team was selected to move to the grand final that would be held on August 30, they would stand a chance to win the grand prize of the competition which would be the Prime Minister's Challenge Trophy and also a trip to Stockholm, Sweden to witness the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony which would be fully sponsored by ASM.
The second prize is a study visit to Los Angeles and Silicon Valley that will be sponsored by the US Embassy, while the third and fourth winners will have the opportunity to participate in the Sakura programme that will be held in Japan next year.
She mentioned that a total of 408 students from 56 schools all over Sabah took part in the National Science Challenge this year.
“This shows the commitment of the schools in giving the students the best exposure and experience to learn STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) in a fun and exciting way,” she said.
She also said with the advent of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence as well as industries of the future that were knowledge-intensive, technologyenabled, high value-added and adaptable, high-skilled STEM talents had become increasingly crucial to a nation's success as they would be the main drive of innovation capacity, productivity, sustainability and competitiveness of a country.
“Therefore, it is essential for Malaysia to build the capacity, capability and competency of our young generation and nurture them from the beginning on a strong foundation in science and technology.
“The young generation must also be equipped with the necessary skills to meet the challenges ahead and to grow and thrive as leaders of tomorrow,” she said.
She also said it was in response to this that the Academy of Sciences Malaysia collaborated with the Exxonmobil Subsidiaries In Malaysia, Education Ministry and the Young Scientists NetworkASM (YSN-ASM) to organize the National Science Challenge of NSC as one of the main platforms to nurture, promote and enhance the interest of the young generation among the school students in science, technology and innovation.
Meanwhile, a total of 2,442 teams took part in the nationwide preliminary level this year.
The competition is conducted at four levels, namely, the preliminary level, the state level, the semi-final and grand final.
At the preliminary level, all participants were required to answer objective questions through an online system.
Four best teams and one wild card team, which is a combination of three best participants from each state will then compete at the state level.
The team from SM Sung Siew Sandakan beat four other teams with their mark 344.17. The team with the second highest mark was SM Sains Lahad Datu with 259.17 marks; while the third, fourth and fifth teams were SMK Arshad (177.08 marks), Wild Card (136.67 marks) and SMK Desa Kenchana (127.83 marks).
The SM Sains Lahad Datu team comprised of Piriyah A/P Mani Vannan, Mohammad Mahadhir Machamud and Sirail Jamris; the team from SMK Arshad comprised of Fernando Chiu Jia Hao, Mikhail Yassin and Siti Rodhiatul Fatihah Roslan; the team from SMK Desa Kencana comprised of Aliza, Noorayuni Sahwazni Abdul Samad and Mohammad Izwan Rashid; and the Wild Card team comprised of Nur Fatimah Jamaluddin from SM Sains Sabah, Siti Norjanatul Abd Ghaffar @ Mohd Zain from SMK Arshad and Vesley Junio Villos from SM St Michael.
Also present at the event were UMS Dean (Faculty of Science and Natural Resources) Professor Dr Baba Musta who represented the Vice Chancellor, Professor Datuk Dr D. Kamarudin D. Mudin and ExxonMobil Subsidiaries in Malaysia general manager, Public & Government Affairs, Sukiman Mohamed.