KUCHING: SMK Siburan students received a grand prize of full scholarships to further their studies at Sunway University, worth a total of RM150,000 (almost US$50,000) following the announcement of results for the US Embassy Kuala Lumpur’s Click! Camp 4.0 which saw many meaningful projects by entrepreneurial youths.
The winning teams celebrating their victory at the Click! Grand Finale.
SMK Siburan champions pitching their social enterprise to the judges.
The winners also received I-pod Touches and the opportunity to participate in a selection camp for the AFS Kennedy Lugar Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program that could lead them to study and live in the United States for six months, according to a press release made available by Embassy of the United States of America, Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
The second and third prizes went to participants from Sekolah Menengah Islam Al-Amin, Kemaman and those from SMK Maran Pahang who won scholarships worth RM75,000 and RM50,000 respectively.
The Embassy’s annual premier social entrepreneurship programme targeted students aged 14 to 16 who concluded its fourth series of camps on Sept 23 at a grand finale held at Sunway University Kuala Lumpur.
Following the Click! Camps in Penang, Terengganu, and Sarawak organised by LifeChamp Sdn Bhd and the Malaysian Alumni Partnership (MAAP), six teams were chosen from 43 teams of high school students to fly to Kuala Lumpur for the finals.
Deputy chief of Mission Edgard Kagan presented all six teams with trophies and certificates signed by Ambassador Joseph Yun. SMK Siburan prevailed as champion this year, the first school from East Malaysia to win the Click! Competition.
In his remarks, Kagan congratulated the ‘Clickers’, who he said would be the leaders to solve the problems of the future. He thanked the sponsors Sunway Education Group, Boston Consulting Group, AFS Malaysia and Khazanah National Berhad for contributing prizes this year. He added that the Click! Program remains one of the Embassy’s most successful public-private partnerships and youth outreach programmes.
Since its inception in 2010 in Cherating, Pahang, the Click Camp series has engaged over 900 Malaysian youth and has instilled youth participants with a global mindset and a sense of social responsibility. The programme promotes a strong three-way relationship between the United States, the business community and local communities.
Partners of Click Camp 4.0 included the Ministry of Education, State Education Departments, English Language Training Center (ELTC), ELS Language Center, Teach for Malaysia (TFM), Malaysian-American Commission on Educational Exchange (MACEE), Social Entrepreneurship Alliance and Matrix Research.