Congratulations: Winners of the Legoland School Challenge 2024. — Photos: THOMAS YONG/The Star
PERSEVERANCE and creativity were the building blocks that helped 16 teams from primary and secondary schools across Malaysia win all top 16 prizes at this year’s Legoland School Challenge.
Equally important was time management, says 16-year-old Nathanael Yap Zheng Yu from Campus Rangers International School, Kuala Lumpur.
He and his team of four other 16-year-olds, who called themselves Five Guys, took home the grand prize for the secondary school category.
Ryan Cheng Eng Hen, Justin Lee Man Lok, Ryan Chong Jian Heng and Marcus Wong Jia Wei made up the rest of the team.
With exams falling right in the middle of their building timeline, they had to plan things very carefully, said Nathanael, who is also the group leader.
At the same time, the Year 10 students had to keep their stress and emotions in check to avoid “damaging” their creative flow.
Their design, made with over 7,000 Lego bricks, showcased the coming together of two worlds, in line with this year’s theme “World of Fantasy”.
“In the world today, there’s a lot of segregation. So, we chose to express these different people and worlds coming together in our build,” said Nathanael.
He added that they combined two different Lego building systems – Minilanders and Minifigures – to “show the joining of the two worlds”.
Five Guys: (From left) Eng Hen and Nathanael explaining their creation to Onn Hafiz and Zainal (second from right).
“Combining these two systems is considered a stigma among the Lego community,” he shared, adding that they purposely chose to do it to “break the rules”.
As for Star Girls from SK Bukit Damansara, KL – the grand prize winners of the primary school category – they used Lego’s Habitat system, which allows different “habitats” to be joined together.
Their teacher adviser and English Language teacher Sanjhana Pillai P.B. Govind said the eight-year-olds let their imagination run wild by picking an idea to create, building it in their own homes, and then meeting to put their pieces together.
The eight students are Sara Zhafri Aiman, Eryqa Sofeya Mohd Nazrin, Ilhan Hanan Ahmad, Saaliha Jasmeen Mohamed Jahaberdeen, Nik Aminah Nik Ahmad Kamil, Naurah Amani Mohd Firdaus Akhmal, Shailu Thevendran and Nur Syaqeela Mohd Razif.
Sanjhana Pillai credited the parents for their collaboration in the girls’ winning entry.
“The students learnt a lot during this whole process, and I hope they will continue to harness their potential,” she said, adding that this same group had won fifth place in last year’s competition.
“We learnt teamwork, collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem-solving skills,” quipped Eryqa Sofeya.
“One day, we hope to become Lego master model builders,” added Saaliha Jasmeen, referring to the team that builds and maintains the life-sized Lego models seen around the resort in Iskandar Puteri, Johor.
Legoland Malaysia Resort divisional director CS Lim said the third edition of the competition had seen participants “reach new heights”.
“The competition is getting more intense every year,” he told StarEdu after the prize-giving ceremony at Legoland Malaysia Resort on Sept 3.
Star Girls: The aspiring Lego master model builders with their prize.
He said all 16 winners took home a collective prize pool worth over RM100,000, which included a Legoland School Challenge trophy – built entirely out of the iconic blocks – sets of building blocks, annual passes to all three parks at Legoland Malaysia Resort, and the opportunity to attend an exclusive Lego Building Workshop with a Lego Expert Model Builder.
This special workshop allows winners to learn directly from the masters, honing their creativity and building skills.
Lim added that entries were submitted online via photos and were judged by a panel, including master model builders and Lego enthusiasists, with 20% of the marks coming from public votes.
The judges were not given any information about the designers of the entries so everybody was competing on equal footing, he said.
This year saw a record 554 submissions – 50% higher than the previous year – from over 3,700 students across Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, China, the Philippines, Thailand and Laos.
During the prize-giving ceremony, Education Ministry director-general (School Operations) Zainal Abas described the entries as “truly inspiring”.
“We are glad to support this ongoing drive to empower teachers and students with a positive avenue for engaging hands-on learning, where our young can develop more science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-based skills,” he said, adding that learning does not just happen in the classroom; it also happens outside the classroom.
Meanwhile, Johor Chief Minister Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi said the competition provides an invaluable opportunity for students to “unleash their creative potential” and to explore their true potential by applying their knowledge and skills in a fun and engaging way.
“This is a perfect example of how to promote STEM education and foster creativity among our youth,” he said, adding that Johor aims to be a hub for educational and cultural experiences.
The annual competition, launched in 2022, encourages students to collaborate and harness their creativity, imagination and construction skills to build extraordinary Lego creations.
