SMJK Sam Tet teams are tops again
Previous years’ experience in competition gave us an edge, says winning group leader
IPOH: After emerging tops in the past years, students from SMJK Sam Tet once again proved their might in the RHB-The Star Mighty Minds 2015 challenge.
Teams from the school emerged champion and third place winner in the upper secondary category while its team in the lower secondary group emerged third in this year’s state challenge.
Members of the winning team in the upper secondary category – Foo Yu Cheng, Phoon Xue Liang and Jeremy Lee – drew from past experience to score 70.42 points, ahead of the 64.80 recorded by SM Tenby Ipoh and the 63.00 by their other schoolmates.
“The previous years’ experience in the competition gave us an edge but a lot of it had to do with preparation as well as luck.
“We were immensely lucky,” said team leader Yu Cheng after the competition – jointly organised by Star Publications (M) Bhd and RHB Banking Group – here on Saturday.
Last year, the trio emerged champions in the lower secondary challenge at the state level while coming in second at the national level.
Unlike the champion team in the upper secondary category, Form Two students Raynash Singh, R. Shreevishal and Shum Gui Yao did not have experience to fall back on.
They stepped into the competition relying on their own preparation as well as pointers from their seniors and scored 66.55 points, handing over the championship to SMK St Michael.
In second place was SMK Convent Ipoh with 61.77 points while Sam Tet came in third with 60.32 points.
“We absolutely had no idea what to expect. “We practised on our own, read
The Star from front to back every single day – all within the one week given to us to prepare,” said team leader Raynash.
Star Publications events manager Victor Cheong, who was among the judges, said the company and RHB created Mighty Minds back in 2009 as a competition for students from all over Malaysia.
“It is aimed to provide a different outlet for their creativity and knowledge. It is indeed great to see that the competition has progressed over the years with more students participating,” he said.
Impressed by the performance of the 272 participating teams, RHB Bank Bhd regional director (northern) Loh Soon On said the competition was getting stiffer by the year with higher standards.
“It’s been very interesting to watch the students in action. In fact, I’ve even learned a thing or two from them,” said Loh, who gave away the prizes.
After the 14 state challenges are complete, all champions will make their way to the Klang Valley for the national finals.
For details, contact The Star’s Customer Care Unit at 03-79671777/1703 or visit www.thestar. com.my/mightyminds.