Two Sabah schools in finals
Published on: Monday, October 09, 2023
By:
Anthea Peter, Lisa Aveline Rabenjoro
The W.O.W team with their teachers, Sylvester (second left) and Anthony (second right).
Kota Kinabalu: An all-girl team from SMK Pekan Telipok emerged champion in the Shell NXplorers Sabah STEM-related competition this year, impressing judges with their cutting edge flood alert system.
Iman Batrisyia Syarimin, Siti Nureen Naziha Ismail and Aimi Farisha Roslin, who make up Team Women of Wisdom (W.O.W) would represent Sabah at the Shell NXplorers Malaysia challenge in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 8.
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Team XO_Leiune from SM All Saints, who were first runner up with their light management system which addresses electricity wastage, would also advance to the final.
Team W.O.W’s flood alert system, dubbed “The Alluvione”, was designed to inform communities residing in flood-prone areas on rising water levels in nearby rivers.
The advanced sensor unit comprises several essential components, including an Ultrasonic sensor, LED light, a siren and dedicated mobile application, which runs on an intelligent mechanism that ensures real-time monitoring of the river’s water levels.
“It has a speaker that will alert when the water level is already high. The ultrasonic sensor ensures that we can measure the water level from the app that we made.
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“We also added a few LCD displays to visually show the current water level,” the team said, adding that the system was designed for Kg Pekan Kota Belud.
“We are ecstatic to be State champs and extend our appreciation to Shell for providing us this amazing avenue.
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“It enables us to learn the integration of thinking, problem solving, planning and most importantly, coming together as a team and thinking out-of-the box to help address sustainability related issues that the world is facing today,” the team said.
Their invention took three months to complete under the guidance of teachers, Sylvester Liaw and Anthony Galban.
Sylvester said this was the first win for SMK Pekan Telipok, adding that the victory was completely unexpected.
“We were very shocked, yet happy at the same time. We joined last year but did not win. We are very proud of our students because in those months they were really struggling and almost gave up.
“They had problems with the coding which they kept getting wrong, but they pulled through. We hope to advance the project so that we can win at the national level and make Sabah proud,” said Sylvester.
The most innovative award went to The Trois from SM St Michael for their invention BekAch, which is ingeniously designed to harness water efficiently from air conditioning units.
Nine schools competed in the event. The awards ceremony was held at Plaza Shell on Thursday. Supported by the Education Ministry, Shell NXplorers Malaysia has worked with over 1,000 secondary students from 25 schools across Malaysia.
In Sabah this year, 81 teams comprising over 260 students participated in the programme, while peer-to-peer coaching was also implemented to educate the larger student community of about 12,000 students from all participating schools in Sabah.
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