(From back seventh left) Norsyamsyafikhoh, Dzul, Ripin, Ting, Kartika, Nurul, Haslinda and Razig are seen with students, teachers and parents during the team’s arrival.
MIRI: SM Sains Miri has won a gold award from the 36th Beijing Youth Science Creation Competition (BYSCC) Medical Health and Science Category for ‘Altsweet’ — an alternative to sugar produced using oil palm waste.
Form 5 student Nurul Atiqah Sepuwan and Form 4 students Kartika Zalia Mohammad and Raziq Dean Niazi Saif Ud Dean were the only Malaysians at the event.
“‘Altsweet’ is as sweet as sugar, but it is much healthier and lower in cholesterol. So it is a better alternative to sugar,” teacher in charge Norsyamsyafikhoh Abd Ghani told reporters at Miri Airport upon their return yesterday.
She said this was the school’s second international level win after the Asian Young Inventors Exhibition (Ayie) for the International Invention and Innovation Exhibition (Itex) in 2014 when it won the Malaysia Young Inventors Exhibition and Itex Special Award.
Norsyamsyafikhoh said Itex’s organiser Malaysia Invention and Design Society selected SM Sains Miri to go to Beijing based on the school’s Itex 2014 success.
The triumphant students thanked their teachers, parents and schoolmates for their support and motivation.
“We are very happy to share this victory with all Malaysians and we are thankful for those who have supported us all this while,” said Razig.
Nurul said the group was very proud to be the only Malaysian team and that Beijing was an unforgettable experience.
Kartika added that ‘Altsweet’ was developed by everyone on the team and they hoped to commercialise it in future.
Besides host country China, teams taking part in BYCC were from Macau, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Australia, Denmark and South Africa.
Lambir assemblyman Ripin Lamat, Sarawak United People’s Party Piasau chairman Datuk Sebastian Ting, SM Sains principal Mohd Dzul Badzli Abdullah, senior assistant I Haslinda Jedi and parent-teacher association chairman Sapri Paee were among those at the airport to welcome the team.