(From left) The champions from Sandakan – Chong, Liew, and Chin.
KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 19): Three students from SM Sung Siew in Sandakan have made Sabah proud by emerging the grand winners of the Shell NXplorers Malaysia 2021.
De 3 Lions – comprising Havyn Liew Xiang Rong, Brandon Chin Min Qiao, and Chong Heng Fung – learnt of their win during a virtual event.
Their winning project called Project ZeroW is an affordable and innovative chicken feeder solution that can minimise wastage and maintain chicken feed quality.
Besides having automated, embedded Arduino systems, which are coding systems used in technology-related projects, the invention is also equipped with a mobile app to monitor and control the entire system remotely, providing information support to chicken farmers.
The invention has the potential to positively impact agricultural practices, locally and globally.
Additionally, the Shell NXplorers Malaysia 2021 Best Speaker award went to Shannon Lim of Team ‘WE GO BIG’ from SMK Bintulu, Sarawak.
Shell Malaysia chairman and Upstream Malaysia senior vice president Ivan Tan said that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is important for the future, but perhaps more crucial is the capacity to think, to challenge status quo and, in doing so, creating new and better solutions for the future.
“At Shell, we believe in nurturing the young generation to be creative and flexible to adapt to new challenges and to be resilient in the face of adversity because every struggle is an opportunity for growth, every failure an opportunity to learn.
“We are hopeful that the exposure to Shell NXplorers will help inspire our youth to contribute sustainable solutions to the major global challenges of our time,” he said.
De 3 Lions team members said they are truly honoured to win Shell NXplorers 2021, which has really impacted secondary school students.
They said the critical thinking skills learnt in this programme have really helped students to dig deeper into real life problems and come up with solutions to create a positive change.
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 problem-solving skills amongst the young generation who will be the game changers for a better future.
Five schools participated in the national finals after emerging state winners and runners-up of state-level Shell NXplorers Malaysia competitions.
The finalists were from SMK Bintulu from Sarawak; SM St Michael and SM Sung Siew from Sabah; as well as SMK Aminuddin Baki, Kuala Lumpur and SMK Putrajaya Presint 11(1), Putrajaya.
The jury for the grand finals comprised Ministry of Education Digital Education Secretariat (Technical) deputy head Dr Ihsan Ismail; Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) chief digital skills and jobs officer Dr Sumitra Nair; and Shell Malaysia Upstream (Malaysia Projects) general manager Richard Kho.
For more information on Shell’s NXplorers, go to www.shell.com.my.