KULAI: Four girls from a secondary school here proved their sceptics wrong when they emerged as national champions in a race car building challenge, paving way for them to enter the world stage next.
SMK Bandar Putra’s Team Layang clinched the national science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) racing title in February, outperforming 200 teams across Malaysia.
The team is now gearing up to represent Malaysia at the Aramco STEM Racing World Finals, set to take place in Singapore starting on Sept 27.
Team member and Form Four student Angel Jasminder Villamor Singh said the all-girl team often attracted raised eyebrows when they walked into competitions.
“Even when meeting people or pitching our ideas, we get questions about our abilities.
“Some may not say it directly but we could feel people doubting whether we could do it just because we are girls,” she said when interviewed recently.
She added that they often get asked why they did not get a male student on board.
“We had one previously but he had to drop out due to family commitments.
“But it is not an issue for us as we have proven that we can do it despite being an all-girl team – women in STEM should be taken seriously,” added Angel, who doubles as the team’s graphic designer.
Team leader and design engineer Tricia Lai said they are now preparing for the world finals in Singapore, where they will be going up against 80 teams from around the world.
“Our team has been doing research and development since May, where we produced prototypes for a new iteration of our winning model.
“We hope to learn from our past mistakes and perform better than our school’s placing in 2023, which was ninth in the world,” she said.
Tricia, who aims to become an engineer one day, admitted that the pressure has been mounting as the competition draws near.
“We have been managing our stress by creating social media content and leaning on each other.
“Angel and I, along with our other teammates, Anis Fadhilah Azman and Prashantinee Chandra Mohan, were friends even before we joined the team.
“This bond is the key to our chemistry and why we gel so well,” she added.
The girls’ achievement drew recognition from the Johor government, with state housing and local government committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor presenting RM20,000 to the team yesterday to support their journey to the world finals.
“This is the state government’s support and recognition for the team’s efforts in elevating Johor’s name.
“We hope this will also encourage more students to pursue STEM,” said Mohd Jafni, who is also Bukit Permai assemblyman.
