KUCHING – Three secondary school teams from Kuching will compete in the grand final of the Young Innovate competition in Kuala Lumpur next month after recently qualifying for the national round.
SMK St Joseph beat 43 teams to take the championship trophy at the Kuching leg hosted by Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus.
The team of Bryan Ho, Stanislaus Ting, Lee Kai Siang and Clement Goh, all Form 4 students who call themselves “The Unstoppable”, also won RM3,000 to pursue foundation studies at Swinburne Sarawak.
“Team Pyrus” from Tunku Putra International School and “The Invisible Invincible” from SMK DPHA Gapor won the two first runners-up.
The three teams will see action at the national level grand final in Kuala Lumpur on 4 November.
“The Legend of PikaPika” from Chung Hua Middle School No.1, “The Mastermind” from SMK Pending, and “Fishy Team” from SMK Sungai Tapang were the three second runners-up.
Young Innovate is an annual national competition that aims to inspire the passion in science, technology, engineering and mathematics among secondary school students, and develop their living skills in problem solving, thinking tenacity; and expose them to open-source hardware and software.
Their entries had to address real life problems which they identify through research, surveys and interviews with the relevant parties in their neighbourhood.
The students had gone through a two-day boot camp and had three months to propose a solution to the identified problem, which is either from the field of agriculture, automotive, manufacturing or tourism.
Swinburne Sarawak undergraduate students served as mentors to the competing teams.
A total of 16 high schools competed: SMK St Joseph, SMK Jalan Arang, Lodge International, Tunku Putra International School, SMK St Teresa, SMK St Thomas, SMK Batu Lintang, SMK Green Road, SMK Batu Kawa, SMK Padungan, Chung Hua Middle School No.1, SMK Sungai Tapang, SMK Tun Abang Haji Openg, SMK Dato Patinggi Haji Abdul Gapor Stampin, SMK Sungai Maong and SMK Pending.
Tabung Ekonomi Gagasan Anak Bumiputera Sarawak (Tegas), Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS), Sarawak Energy and Ta Ann Group were joint sponsors.
Industry experts from SAINS, Institution of Engineers Malaysia, Swinburne Sarawak, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) and Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Sarawak Subsection made up the panel of judges.
SAINS chief operating officer Teo Loon Tong, Tegas manager for promotion for TVET and special projects unit Sabatini Jihob, and Swinburne Sarawak associate dean for engineering Dr Sim Kwan Yong presented prizes to the winners.