Lightbulb moment lights up path to prize

Sunday March 4, 2012

Lightbulb moment lights up path to prize

By Alycia Lim

educate@thestar.com.my

MALACCA: Teenagers are an ingenious lot when it comes to safeguarding their privacy.

At the first leg of the RHB-The Star Mighty Minds National Challege 2012, a lightbulb moment led the SMK Gajah Berang team to design a uber-creative alarm system which would alert an occupant against intruders.

Upper-secondary teams were required to construct a model that can alert a person when someone is about to enter their room.

Meanwhile, the lower-secondary teams were required to build an insect trap that wouldn’t harm the creatures.

Three cheers for trio: SMK Gajah Berang students (from left) Izyan Izzati Mohd Razif, Tiew Ming Chun and Lee Yi Wei celebrating their victory

After launching the competition, RHB Banking Group group corporate services director Norazzah Sulaiman said they hoped to reach out to more rural schools this year.

She added that with the additional business acumen element in the competition this year, the challenges would prepare students to face the real world.

“Questions related to banking and finance would be incorporated,” she said.

The Star’s group business director Calvin Kan said the competition, which is in its fourth year, had opened up more places for the state challenges.

“There are between 80 to 120 teams per category in each state,” he said, adding that the competition’s model-building element gave students the rare opportunity to translate theory into practical.

He told students to bone up on general knowledge and current affairs the focus of the multiple choice questions and buzzer quiz this year.

For the upper-secondary category, SMK Gajah Berang clinched the top prize, followed by SM Katholik and SM Sains Muzaffar Shah.

In the lower-secondary category, the champions were participants from Kolej Yayasan Saad, with SMK Infant Jesus Convent and SMK St Francis emerging first and second runners-up.

The champion team won RM5,000, while the second and third teams won RM2,000 and RM1,000 respectively. The three teams also took home book vouchers worth RM300 per team. School prizes of RM2,000, RM1,000, and RM750 were awarded to the top three schools.

Some 450 students put their knowledge on general knowledge, science and maths to the test at the four-stage competition held at Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall yesterday.

The Malacca state challenge is the first of the 14 state challenges. The next state challenge will be held in Negri Sembilan on March 24, followed by Terengganu on March 31. All state champions will represent their states at the National Challenge in October.

The upper-secondary winners at the National Challenge will win a trip to the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in Ireland, sponsored by Penang Medical College.

Jointly organised by Star Publications (M) Bhd and RHB Banking Group, the competition will be held in all 14 states before culminating in the National Finals in Kuala Lumpur.

For details, contact The Star’s Customer Care Unit at 03-7967 1777 or 03-7967 1703 or visit www.thestar.com.my/mightyminds.