(From left) Prithipal Singh with Sabah state champion winners Waverly, Charlize and Ahuvia.
SHELL NXplorers Malaysia announced the Sabah state winners – SM St Michael Penampang clinched the state champion title and SM All Saints as runner-up.
Shell NXplorers is a global education initiative that aims to help students learn how to address complex problems, develop decision making skills and equip them with the right-thinking tools, alongside being part of an international network of some 20 countries with 100,000 participants who are making headway in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) field.
Sabah Shell Petroleum Company Ltd general manager Prithipal Singh said Shell NXplorers Malaysia has evolved over the years and has adapted its delivery and reach to accommodate the needs, interests, concerns and expectations of local communities.
“As we focus on reaching out to our fence-line communities, we also amplify our efforts to reach out to a larger community across the nation. Hence our collaboration with the Education Ministry to launch the Shell NXplorers self e-learning module, leveraging the existing DELIMa portal.
“This gives a huge impact in our efforts to introduce STEM education to the masses, which enables us to bring benefits to over 2.5 million secondary school students nationwide. We are also looking into intensifying our capability-building among STEM teachers in Malaysia by introducing the Shell NXplorers Train of Trainers workshops,” he said.
Team Lovelies from SM St Michael Penampang are the proud state winners of Shell NXplorers Sabah with their winning invention, The Wiver. This is a flood alert system that keeps residents living in flood-prone areas aware of increasing water levels in nearby monsoon drains or rivers It has life-saving solutions inclusive of a siren, LED lights and a mobile app notification with three levels of warning to ensure residents are able to take proactive measures to safeguard their family and property.
Working on The Wiver, Team Lovelies team members Charlize Hope Ensingan Garai, Waverly Rhys Tann and Ahuvia Rinai Clerance shared that their main inspiration began after the floods washed over Penampang in Sabah.
“We have seen so many challenges and too much money wasted having to replace furniture and other household products so this a very important project for not only us, but for the entire Sabah. The project idea development was really through trial and error and on what we feel would be good or helpful for the residents,” Charlize said.
Waverly concurred: “If we are able to implement our project, that will create a huge impact to our community. The people in our community will be able to minimise damage to their homes and property, manage lost time from dealing with floods and save water as a large amount of water is often used in flood clean-ups.”
Ahuvia’s advice to future NXplorers was a key learning experience for them – be confident.
“My advice would be to discover and grow your self-confidence. That way you can communicate your ideas well, and engage your audience, while keeping them interested in what you are saying, as this is key to get your audience to believe in what you are presenting.”
Team Zxuara with their Smart H2O invention.
State runner up SM All Saints thought up Smart H2O, an intelligent watering system that detects humidity and temperature in the environment. It is equipped with a sensor to detect soil moisture, while the solution also waters plants automatically which helps enhance the growth of plants and prevents them from dehydration.
Zxuara team members Ryan Ng Jun Lei, Aisha Loh Xiau Wei and Azana Asha Nordin found the need to fill the gap with their semi-auto watering system for people who lead a busy lifestyle,
Ng shared: “Our project is a smart H2O semi-auto watering system. It’s a simple system that helps to monitor plant moisture levels and has a humidity and temperature sensor that helps to ensure the optimum growing environment for the plants.
“The cooling fan will be triggered to manage the humidity and temperature of the space. To support the Smart H2O system, we also created an app to give users manual control of the watering system should they feel the need to do so.”
Nine schools competed in Shell NXplorers Sabah and this year’s participating schools were SMK Badin, SMK St Joseph, SM St Michael, SM La Salle, SM Sung Siew, SMK Pekan Telipok, SMK St John (M), SMK Bandaraya KK and SM All Saints.
