SMK Bintulu IT Warriors champion at Shell Nxplorers
KUALA LUMPUR: Three students from SMK Bintulu in Sarawak made the state proud when their team was crowned the grand winner of Shell NXplorers Malaysia 2022, after competing with five other teams from schools across the country.
Team IT Warriors comprising Yiek Siew Hao, Sean Lee Jia Roung and Christalyn Siaw Ern Qi developed the winning project called EZ Park; an IoT-based smart parking system and app that helps drivers to find their indoor parking easier and faster.
EZ Park app allows drivers to know exactly where to park their car by receiving real-time data from sensors connected to embedded systems (Arduino) using Bluetooth. Drivers using this app will not only be able to save time but most importantly, minimise greenhouse gas emissions.
“We are impressed with the solutions that the students in our Shell NXplorers programme have developed. Their ability to challenge themselves and collaborate to design sustainable solutions give me confidence that the future generation will help shape a bright future for our country,” shared Shell Malaysia chairman and Upstream Malaysia senior vice president Dato Ivan Tan.
“We are ecstatic to have won the grand champion tittle of Shell NXplorers 2022.
“Throughout this journey, we have learnt to value teamwork and thinking out of the box as these are traits that enabled us to connect the dots to the real-life problems the world faces today and to further work on solutions to address them, one of which we hope is our invention.
“We thank Shell for this valuable experience,” expressed the team members of IT Warriors on this programme.
A special prize for the Best Presenter was awarded to Yiek of Team IT Warriors from SMK Bintulu for his eloquence and detailed explanation on his team’s invention.
Six schools, two finalists each from Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak participated in the national finals after emerging state winners and runners up at the state level of the Shell NXplorers Malaysia competition.
The finalist schools were SM St Michael and SM All Saints from Sabah; SMK Kidurong and SMK Bintulu from Sarawak ad SMK Seksyen 9 and SMK Bandar Puncak Jalil from Peninsular Malaysia.
The panel of jury for the grand finals comprised Ministry of Education, BSKK principal assistant director Dr Faizulazmi Binti Osmin, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Talent Development director Nik Naharudin Mohd Nasir and Shell Global STEM lead Tariq Hussain.
Shell’s NXplorers challenges school students to work in teams to design and develop solutions to real-world problems within the nexus of food-water-energy.
Additionally, it also provides them with tools and skills to tackle these problems using collaborative, innovative and inter-disciplinary approaches. Shell NXplorers develops a STEM approach cultivating critical thinking and complex problemsolving skills amongst the young generation who will be the game changers for a better future.