The highest achievement during my high school years and the most memorable is winning 2nd place during the National Finals in the F1 in Schools Malaysia competition. Basically, our school (SMK Seksyen 9, Shah Alam) was considered rookies since we haven't entered the competition since our seniors represented the country and collaborated with Germany in 2009 if I'm not mistaken. So we had to start from scratch starting from understanding what the competition really is about, what software to use, how to design the F1 car, how to manufacture (considering different types of materials), make designs for team branding, marketing and also managing the team.
My team is called Infinite 9. Why? Because we wanted to go beyond expectations and the number 9 represents our school which is SMK Seksyen 9, Shah Alam. My role in the team is as the Graphic Designer. I'm basically in charge of team branding such as designing the team logo, team uniform, portfolio, booth, merchandise and others (using softwares such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and Prezi). When I first entered the team, I was in a bit of a blur I didn't even know what it's about and what I'm supposed to do. I don't even know how to use a designing software. I started off slow by learning the basics of using the Adobe Illustrator software. It was something really new to me as not all students at my age knows how to use it and what it is. So you could say that I'm ahead of others because I entered this competition.
I think designing for me was fine even though I had trouble adapting to the software, but it was okay. My main concern for this competition was presentation. Truthfully, I always run away from presenting in front of my class. Even if I did, it was terrible, embarrassing and absolutely nerve wrecking. Once when we had to do a rehearse in front of my school teachers I forgot what to say and it was so embarrassing. If you could put yourself in my shoes, it is embarrassing. Just imagine, you're going to compete in a few weeks and the teachers expect you to be in tip top shape but that's what you present them with. Even in that embarrassing moment I'm really grateful that my teammates didn't put any burden on me but instead they gave me advice on how to overcome my weakness in doing presentations and said some very encouraging words of wisdom. They are certainly the best teammates that I could ever have including my teacher. After tons of practice for presentation and designing the day of the competition finally came and we came through it with flying colours.
It was a 3 day competition that includes a 10 minute team presentation, 2 types of races, scrutinering, and engineering drawing. We actually won 2nd place in regionals for Central Zone and also an award for Best Research and Development Award. It was unexpected as we are considered inexperienced. Our school also wrote about us in the SMK Seksyen 9 Warta9news website.
For the Nationals my team collaborated with the lecturers of Automotive Research And Testing Centre (ARTeC) UiTM from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, UiTM. It was amazing! The lecturers were very helpful, they gave us a lot of tips regarding the design of the F1 car. Aside from the design aspects of the car, they also helped us a lot in terms of presentation as well.
It was also such an honour to have YBhg. Tan Sri Dato' Seri Utama Arshad Ayub as our team patron as he is one of the Pro-Chancellors of UiTM. There was also an article regarding this in the STAR newspaper:
Other than that, we also collaborated with the Asian Aviation Centre of Excellence Sdn. Bhd. (AACE). It was also to receive intellectual knowledge regarding the aerodynamics of our car. As we collaborated with them, we also had the chance to try out the Airbus 380 simulator. It was such a ride. Seriously, it's not easy flying an airplane.
[1st pic: Infinite Nine F1 Team members in front of the flight simulator. 2nd pic: Inside the flight simulator. From the left, Hisham, Azrai, Adriana and Me(Dayana)]
Including a collaboration with the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM) for rapid prototyping:
Our Nationals was held at Kompleks Perbadanan Putrajaya. We met teams from all over Malaysia and every team had their own strength. We were overwhelmed by the competitiveness of all the participants and did all our best to make everyone who believed in us proud and we did. Proudly speaking, I changed a lot as I improved in my public speaking as I spoke a lot when we were presenting and answering in the Q&A session. We were the First Runner Up and won the Best Marketing Award. We were qualified for representing our country to the f1 in Schools World Finals in Abu Dhabi but sadly we didn't because of SPM. Nevertheless, it was such a life changing experience and we gained friends along the way. I grew a lot through it, educationally and in terms of the way of life. And with it I became braver and much more skilled in designing and in tech. Currently I'm pursuing my studies in; Diploma in New Media Communication and Contentpreneurship in UiTM Alor Gajah, Melaka.
P.S: Checkout my team's website http://infinitenine.wix.com/infinite9f1team
Here are some videos from the National Finals, F1 in Schools Malaysia 2013:
Here are my juniors' Social Media Accounts:
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