Mental battle up north

Mental battle up north

ABOUT 120 teams from 45 schools will vie for honours in the Kedah leg of the RHB-The Star mighty minds challenge at the Alor Setar Mall on July 30.

The big showdown will see the northern state’s brightest sparks battling it out to represent Kedah in the national finals in Kuala Lumpur in October.

The competition is open to all secondary schools and each team consists of three participants.

Registration for the Kedah level challenge, jointly organised by RHB Banking Group and The Star, will close on July 22.

A group of students and teachers from SMK Sultanah Asma in Jalan Langgar, Alor Setar, handed over their registration forms to The Star’s senior marketing representative in Kedah Yong Chuan Seng yesterday.

SMK Sultanah Asma senior assistant Fauziah Ramli said the school would be represented by a new batch of students this year as last year’s representatives were no longer around.

“The competition will test the students’ Intelligence quotient (IQ) and the teachers who have been tasked to select the cream of the crop have a big task to select the brightest ones,” she said.

She added that most of the students had taken part in theory competitions involving chemistry, physics and biology at national level but not a hands-on activity.

Four teachers — Hasnida Daud (biology), Zatul Iffah Taib (physics), Rahmah Ramli (English) and Rohana Said (chemistry) — have been assigned to screen the best students for the competition.

Rahmah said the teachers were prepared for the competition as they knew what to expect based on last year’s experience

“We aim to be among the top three finishers,” she added.

Form Five science student Noor Ezza Che Sopa, 17, was all excited about being selected for the challenge.

“I have taken part in the national physics competition but this hands-on activity is going to be a tricky one,” she said, adding that they would put their minds together to give it their best shot.

The champion team in each category will receive a RM3,000 cash prize while the school will be awarded RM2,000 in kind. The second and third teams will get RM2,000 and RM1,000 cash awards respectively while their schools will receive RM1,000 and RM750 in kind.

-News courtesy of The Star-