A group of students from Sekolah Menengah Sains Rembau won RM4,500 in the “DIY Made Simple 2019 - Best of Waste” competition with their “Shoes Stander” project.
Organised by University Malaya’s (UM) Community & Sustainability Centre (UMCares) and MR.D.I.Y. Group (M) Sdn Bhd, the yearly initiative, which was held for the third year running, called for secondary school students to find ways to improve their school facilities, through do-it-yourself projects using recycled materials.
A total of 47 schools entered phase 1 of the competition, which entailed submitting a video of their proposed ideas. A panel of judges then shortlisted 10 teams to move on to phase 2, where the teams worked with lecturers from the university’s Faculty of Built Environment — to turn their ideas into reality at their respective schools.
Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Maahad Hamidiah took home the second prize of RM3,500 in cash while Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Nurul Ittifaq won the third prize of RM2,500 in cash. Additionally, the three winning teams each won a RM1,000 MR.D.I.Y. voucher, a certificate and a trophy.
The fourth prize of RM500 in cash and a trophy went to Sekolah Agama Menengah Bestari while Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Jalan Kebun, one of the 10 shortlisted schools, won RM500 for having the most liked video on YouTube during phase 1 of the competition.
Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Jalan Kebun also won a consolation prize, together with the five remaining shortlisted schools: Sekolah Menengah Setia Budi; Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seksyen 24 (2), Shah Alam; Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Tanjong; Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Alma; and Sekolah Kebangsaan Datuk Haji Ahmad Badawi who each won RM200 in cash and a trophy.
At the recent prize-giving ceremony held at UM, both parties exchanged a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) to continue the competition for another three years. MR.D.I.Y. was represented by its chairman Datuk Azlam Shah Alias and UM was represented by associate vice-chancellor (Industry and Community Networks) Prof Dr Rofina Yasmin Datuk Othman.
“We are gratified to have collaborated with UMCares over the past three years in efforts to motivate students to think of creative ways to improve their surroundings through do-it-yourself projects. This year’s theme, ‘Best of Waste’, also spurred the students to consider their own waste and recycling habits; to see where they can Reduce, Reuse and Recycle instead of just throwing items away,” said Azlam.
