By Nurdiyanah R. –
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, SEPT 9 – Brunei’s Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Young Professional Division (YPS) has Faraday Challenge 2024: Mission to Mars V.2 which took place at Sekolah Rendah Rimba III, yesterday.
Present as the guest of honor to inaugurate the ceremony was the Honorary Chairman of IET, Brunei Darussalam Network, Ir Dayangku Roselawati binti Pengiran Haji Halus, who completed the presentation of participation certificates to the participants.
The ceremony started with the recitation of Surah Al-Fatihah and Doa Selamat led by Awang Muhd Yusuf bin Muhd Yusran.
The event saw the participation of eight schools across Brunei Darussalam consisting of His Royal Highness School, Sports School, Tanjong Maya Middle School, Yayasan Middle School, Chung Hua Middle School, Kuala Belait, Jerudong International School, His Majesty’s College of Science Begawan Sultan and Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Arabic School.
The competition is designed to inspire and invigorate students towards Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). The day-long event also trains students to tackle complex real-world engineering problems using innovative solutions and creative thinking.
Accordingly, an award ceremony was also held in the afternoon to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the participating teams. Present to present the award was the Head of the Science Technology Environment Partnership Center (STEP) of the Ministry of Education, Hajah Suriani binti Haji Noor Hashim.
The ceremony saw Tanjong Maya Middle School emerge as the champion of the competition; Chung Hua Middle School, Kuala Belait was in second place while Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Arabic School was in third place.
IET YPS Brunei chairman, Jevons Q Penaflor and the organizing committee commented on the success of the event by saying Faraday Challenge exceeded their expectations in every way. It was inspiring to witness the innovative solutions and teamwork shown by all the participating schools. Zoom:Bit (Micro:Bit) added a new dimension to the challenge, and they were excited by the creativity and technical prowess demonstrated by the students.
In a pioneering twist, this year’s competition challenge features additional difficulty to program Micro:Bit line follower robot as a transportation system, providing students with an engaging platform to develop and showcase their programming skills.
