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Spell-It-Right Challenge: Sweet sound of

victory as Gary leaps final hurdle

By : Julia Chan
2009/07/06

Gary Owen Patrick jubilant after his victory at 1Borneo Hypermall yesterday.

KOTA KINABALU: Gary Owen Patrick was the underdog from the start, which made his victory in the RHB New Straits Times Spell-It-Right Challenge for secondary schools yesterday that much sweeter.

The unassuming 17-year-old from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bahang, Kota Kinabalu, faced tough competition from SM St Michael Penampang's Jessel Daniel Jominin, but he spelled "ecliptic" correctly to get into the finals, beating Jessel who misspelt "halcyon".

To the delight of many, Gary correctly spelled "palisade" as the rest of the competitors, in a tense tie-breaker, fell by the wayside stumbling over words such as "usurper", "purloin" and "panoply".

Gary himself was surprised when he was declared the winner.

He said he had not practised or studied at all, relying on the sound of the words and trying to remain as composed as possible.

He tripped up on "fulgent" and "intestate" but spelled "gorgonzola" correctly to get into the tie-breaker."

I didn't think I could do it. But after a few words, I found it easier to compose the words in my head and spell them out by breaking down the syllables," he said, adding that he did not speak English at home but conversed with his Kadazan family in Bahasa Malaysia.

Class teacher Latifah Yusof had faith in Gary and cheered him along every step of the way.

"I'm very impressed and proud of him for spelling some of those words which I'm sure he hadn't even heard of."

"The school will honour him at the assembly."

Gary, the youngest son of a paramedic and nurse, attributed his language skill to watching Discovery Channel and National Geographic, and reading science stories on the Internet.

Gary won a prize of RM2,000 and the opportunity to battle it out with other state champions at the national final in Kuala Lumpur on Aug 8.

In second place was Edward Chong Yung Chang of SM La Salle who won RM1,500, followed by John Daniel Boey Chung Ming of SMK Lok Yuk who won RM1,000.

Tengku Juliana Maisya of SMK St Francis Convent was the toast of her school when she easily grabbed first place in the secondary-school category, spelling "kindred" to beat out SM All Saint's Susan Ann Tiong who could not spell "debacle" correctly in the tie-breaker.

The schools received RM2,000 and RM1,500 in prizes for first and second places, followed by SM Lok Yuk Likas with RM1,000 for third place.

The prizes were presented by RHB Banking Group Sabah regional director Siaw Kok Chee.The judges at the event held at 1Borneo Hypermall were NST's Sunday People editor Theresa Manavalan, New Straits Times Press Malaysia Bhd's head of corporate governance Mohd Hisham Mohd Shazali and NST journalist Jaswinder Kaur.

McDonald's sponsored lunch for all the participants from 22 schools around the state.

This is Jennifer Pederson. The only Sabahan in the Estee Lauder Model Search. Please vote for her. Click here to do so. You have to register though :-)

ALL SMILES: The team from SMK Bahang with their teachers and Siow (right).

Their team was among the 30 that qualified from the first round of the contest, which required them to answer 20 quiz questions based on Maths, Science and General Knowledge using interactive keypads. A total of 51 teams from 29 schools had taken part.

Research about what made up the Mighty Minds contest was also an important component in their success, said Wendy, adding that they had assigned themselves different tasks to complete the model.

“During the journey, we had plenty of discussion time as well as mental preparation for the challenge,” said Wendy.

For Alice Kok, Wendy’s mother who had driven the girls and their teacher, Kok Yuk Yong, from Sandakan to Kota Kinabalu, the challenge was beneficial as it stimulated her youngest daughter’s learning experience.

“The journey has been well worth it as Mighty Minds gave my daughter and her friends invaluable exposure,” she said.

For their efforts, the three girls received the top prize of RM3,000 from RHB Bank Bhd Sabah Regional Director Siow Kok Chee. Their victory also earned their school a desktop computer.

The nationwide challenge is jointly organised by RHB Banking Group and Star Publications (M) Bhd.

The event was held at the 1 Borneo hypermall where students were treated to breakfast sponsored by McDonald’s.

Meanwhile, getting to know as much as possible about the Mighty Minds contest to the extent of reading blog postings about past events by earlier contestants from other states, helped set trio Marilyn Valeria Rasiah, Michelle Ng Yee Jin and Mohd Eqhwanneazatt on the path to victory.

The Form Three students of SMK Bahang, Penampang, clinched the top spot in the lower secondary category.

They credited their victory, in part, to their familiarity with the Mighty Minds contest.

“We knew from reading the blogs of earlier contestants that it was important for us to divide the tasks among ourselves during the hands-on challenge,’’ said Michelle.

Marilyn was tasked with tracking time while Eqhwan, who is creative and artistic, had to draw the design for their hands-on task which was to build a torchlight.

The hardest part for all the teams was coming up with a superb switch made out of a combination of disposable items such as straws, paper clips, metal washers and a cotton bud.

Like their SM Convent St Cecilia counterparts, the SMK Bahang trio took home a cash prize of RM3,000 while their school received a desktop computer.

Speaking after handing out the prizes to the winning teams, Siow said RHB’s partnership with The Star in the Mighty Minds contest helped students develop their creativity.

“Through Mighty Minds, students are not only applying what they have learnt but are encouraged to be creative. This is what we need,” said Siow.

The first and second runners-up for the lower secondary were SMK St Francis Convent and SMK St Michael, respectively.

SM All Saints and SMK Tan Sau were the upper secondary winners.

Meanwhile, the Terengganu leg witnessed the arrival of competing teams as early as 7am. The team from Kemaman was up before the crack of dawn to embark on a 200km trip to the Terengganu Trade Centre, where the event was held.

Fortified with zeal and enthusiasm, over 330 participants applied their perception, learning and reasoning to solve the challenging multiple-choice questions which included this humorous general knowledge question: Which planet did the superhero who wears his underpants on the outside orginate from?

The lower secondary participants had to put on their thinking cap to construct a plant cell highlighting cell wall, cell membrane, chloroplast, nucleus, vacuole and cytoplasm.

The upper secondary students, meanwhile were tasked with a mind-boggling challenge-to construct a two-way lift using a pulley with a minimum height of 25cm where teams had to stretch their intellectual capacity to come up with a model that would captivate the panel of judges.

At 6.40pm, the Terengganu Trade Centre was filled with pin-drop silence and nervous moments when the judges prepared to announce the winners.

Twenty minutes later, amid loud cheers and applause, SMK Sultan Sulaiman emerged the winner for the Upper Secondary category (F4F5 category).

The team, comprising Yeo Zhi Ming, Daniel Tan Kwan Chiang and Lian William, hugged each other in exuberance when host Sivashankar Krishnapillai announced their names.

Flanked by their Physics teacher, Tan Teck Siong, the three classmates, all Fifth Formers, received RM3,000 and a desktop computer for their school from Kuala Terengganu RHB assistant branch manager, Jamilah Shaik Mahmood.

Zhi Ming, who was team leader attributed their success to team work and dedication.

“We read as much as we could and did extensive research. We wanted to be innovative and come out with a functioning model within a short period of time. I am glad we made it,” added Zhi Ming.

Meanwhile, SMK Seri Dungun emerged as winners in the lower secondary level (F1,2,3).

For their efforts, Form Three students, Satria Asyraf, Nooraisyah Abdullah and Noor Amira Shahirah took home RM3,000 and a desktop computer.

Team leader Satria said that part of their preparation for the contest was to read up on earlier events held elsewhere in the country.

“Each of us had our own way of ‘digesting’ the type of questions asked and we relied on the Internet to check how the previous Mighty Mind events were conducted.

“We are delighted that our perseverance and hard work paid off,” said Satria adding that Science teacher, Hasleen Kadir Jelani was their mentor.

Since it kicked off in late March, RHB-The Star Mighty Minds has swept through 12 states with the Sarawak leg completed yesterday.

State challenges for Johor, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur will be held this month before the state champions for both categories meet for the national finals in the Klang Valley in August.

Catch the students in action on TV9, which will be airing 30-minute episodes of the state challenges every Sunday at 6pm until Aug 30.

For more details, log in to www.thestar.com.my/mightyminds/. Call 03-7967 1777 for enquiries on subscriptions to The Star’s F123 and F4F5 Science and Maths guides, which contain tips for the contest.