Passion for STEM fueled by Shell NXplorers

The Star

Shell Scholar Jason Chong Min Jun shares how STEM in his blood is further fueled by his journey with Shell Nxplorers.   Shell NXplorers mentor, Anie Mustafa also shares on how mentoring students in this programme has helped hone her skills both personally and professionally.   WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news  SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar  LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00Hi, my name is Jason Chong Min Jun. I'm from Sandakan Sabah, the home where we have a lot

00:07of seafood, a lot of orang utan. I took my SPM in SM Sung Siew, and I'm currently doing

00:13my A-levels, second year actually, in College of SM UAM. I have been in Explorers for five

00:18years now. Four years as an active participant, one year as a student advisor for my juniors.

00:24It was a very fruitful experience since I get to learn a lot about STEM, I get to have

00:28more hands-on experiences, and it really filled my passion to exploring the STEM field, in

00:33particular towards engineering as well. I've always understood that I wanted STEM, but

00:37it wasn't until Nexplorers that I actually filled the passion, because Nexplorers is

00:41one of those programs where you really provide a lot of hands-on learning, you get to build

00:45everything and you get to design and create your own solutions by yourself, albeit with

00:49some other people that you work in a team, which also helps refine your leadership, your

00:54communication skills, your teamwork, and most importantly, that passion and that interest

00:58to STEM. I feel like Shell Nexplorers is what helps me understand more about what I

01:04want to do in the future, and that's why in my course that I'm going to do in university,

01:08I plan to pursue Mechanical Engineering as my degree.

01:14I saw a post in the internal tool, Shell Malaysia Yammer, so they post for looking for a mentor.

01:24So I saw the post and I find it interesting, so I decided to venture into it. I have more

01:31than 15 years working experience, so I do have knowledge and skills that I wanted to

01:37share with the students, especially when it comes to the soft skills, problem-solving

01:42skills and how to actually handle a project, so I do think that I could contribute in that

01:50sense. Being a mentor, it's a good opportunity for me to share all those knowledge with the

01:56students, especially when it comes to STEM learning. STEM learning is actually a hands-on

02:02learning for the students. Apart from actually learning the technical knowledge, they would

02:08also be able to learn the soft skills, those knowledge that they can use, not only in studying

02:16but also in real life. Over the four years in my term in Explorers,

02:21there is a lot of products, I would say a lot of projects that we worked on, but the

02:25one that I really remember the most, because the one that was really exciting and interesting

02:29for me to design, is the one where we had to design an agricultural robot, a vegetable

02:34harvesting robot, because the problem that we were trying to solve is that in Sabah,

02:38especially the rural areas, agriculture is still a significant part in Sabah, and so

02:43what we found out was that intensive farming wasn't really power efficient, they still

02:48use a lot of oil, they use a lot of non-renewable energy sources, which is not really kind to

02:54the environment and it's not really energy efficient in a way. So what our project aimed

02:59to solve was we tried to deliver that solution in a more energy renewable way, so we created

03:06a harvesting robot, vegetable harvesting robot, that is able to pick up its own vegetables

03:12and put it in its basket, all while using solar cells or any energy that you have generated

03:17through wind, turbine, or whatever renewable sources that is available in the area.

03:22We were this close to winning the school competition actually, but our seniors had a much more

03:28refined idea, but nonetheless it was quite well received by our school actually, and

03:33actually we implemented in our community, more specifically I tried it at my grandmother's

03:39backyard, and it was quite okay, but we do realise that there was a few areas of improvement,

03:44for example the app that we designed wasn't really user friendly, and I believe that process

03:50itself is what makes NextForward special, is that you identify the problem, you create

03:55the solutions to solving it, and you put it in a real world application and you refine

04:00it so that it becomes a much more larger scale product that can be used into other fields

04:05and other industries that is possible.

04:07The high moments was during the competition day, I actually saw the students presenting

04:15their ideas, defending their projects, so during that day I can see the change from

04:21the students, from the day one that I met them, to the competition day, where they have

04:28been very impressive in showcasing their prototypes, in actually delivering their presentations,

04:35they are very motivated during those times, and I feel like a very very proud parent,

04:41and I would say it's a bit emotional for me to see how they have grown from the first

04:48day towards the end of the competition day.

04:51Actually I remember the conflicts the most, because as much as it sounds very negative

04:56for me to say, it's actually a very defining moment because I remember a lot of my time

05:01in NextForwards, working with my teammates, working on countless projects and ideas and

05:08solutions.

05:09I remember that time when we were creating that vegetable robot actually, we really wrote

05:13down on a lot of papers, trying to design the perfect robot in a sense, we were trying

05:19to idea a lot of solutions that we were trying to solve, and it all relates back to how NextForwards

05:26refines my leadership and communication skills, because it really helps impact your personal

05:32and professional development, as well it really, again, fuelled that passion for me to work

05:36in science.

05:37I find it very useful for the students, because they have a hands-on learning during the programme,

05:45it's not only they learn about the technology, they also learn how to solve problems, for

05:51example, if they have a problem with the environment, how do we solve them, and the ways

05:56of solving them, that is where the critical thinking comes from. So, it's very useful

06:02for them, not only for right now, but also for the future.

06:06Right now, what I'm doing is, I'm a Shell Scholar currently, and I'm doing my second

06:10year at College of Arts and UAM, doing my A-Levels, hopefully able to pursue my degree

06:14at my dream school, which is Oxford or Harvard, fingers crossed, and I would really want to

06:21work in STEM also, and that's why I believe that having a career in Shell is definitely

06:25something that I would want, because I feel like Shell provides me a lot of opportunities

06:29for me to engage in STEM, and helps me apply a lot of those opportunities and my knowledge

06:35in the stuff that I really want to do.

06:37STEM runs in my blood, and so I cannot stress enough the importance of having a STEM education.

06:46I believe that having STEM is the key to having a flexible mind, a very intelligent mindset,

06:54and having that intelligent vitality is very important for you to create solutions, ideate

06:59problems, and really learn how to solve a large-scale problem, just from starting by

07:05yourself, you know? A lot of my friends who are with the same batch as me, they opt out

07:10as soon as they are done with SBM, because it's quite hard, and it's very challenging

07:14for you to take it to a tertiary level, but also I will believe that it's not just that

07:19factor, there's also other factors that you have to consider, so for example, access to

07:23the STEM education itself, whether or not you have good quality teachers, and an overall

07:29conducive learning environment, I believe the way you learn STEM can really influence

07:34how you would like it, just how you would influence the people around you.

07:39There's a misconception saying that it's very hard subjects, you know, it's not easy to

07:44learn, so this Shell and Explorer programme can actually change those misconceptions,

07:51and they will find it fun, STEM is fun to learn when you have it as hands-on, you know,

07:58instead of thinking that it's just a straightforward kind of subjects, so to change those misconceptions

08:06towards the students wasn't easy, but this is a very good programme in promoting STEM learning.

08:12I see a lot of passionate students who are just scared to even step into the field, just

08:17because it's difficult and it's hard for them to learn, my advice would just be to go for

08:22it, because you never know until you try, and most importantly, how you learn STEM dictates

08:27how you would love the subject.

08:30I really encourage the students to join, because it's a great opportunity to learn, it's fun.

08:42www.pearsonschools.co.uk

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