Winning students with officials during an honouring ceremony.
Doha: A team of three Qatari students have won a global merit award and earned recognition for their outstanding performance during the virtual Shell NXplorers annual award ceremony for the academic year 2020-21.
Shell NXplorers is a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programme aimed at equipping the next generation with the tools and skills to reimagine the world and create sustainable solutions to real-world issues.
The NXplorers contest receives over 150 nominations worldwide yearly. The Qatar team, named ‘Alpha Omega’, comprises three students currently enrolled in Qatar Science and Technology Secondary School for Boys (QSTSS): Hamad Hassan Al Mansuori, Hamad Rashid Labda, and Khalid Fahad Hussain.
Additionally, Mai Yousif, one of the facilitators from the programme, won the ‘Special Recognition Bronze Award for Excellence in Facilitation’.
A ceremony was held by Qatar Shell to recognise the team and the facilitator for their hard work and absolute determination to inspire and outperform others.
Hosted by QSTSS, the event was attended by Rashid Al Sulaiti, Deputy General Manager; Abdullah Al Malki, University Collaboration Manager, and Moza Al Darwish, Social Investment Adviser. Al Sulaiti honoured the students. The students also shared a brief about their winning project idea.
Fawziya Al Khater, Assistant Undersecretary for Educational Affairs at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE), said that she is proud of the achievements made by Qatar School for Science and Technology, particularly when it comes to the winning students. She also reiterated that the school has been primarily established to fulfil well-defined goals which are still to be achieved as time unfolds.
Evidently, student outstanding performance has been widely acclaimed in international competitions, for their skills and projects.
Al Khater also lauded Shell Qatar for supporting this promising competition and called on the private sector to endeavour to diligently participate in supporting the educational process in a useful and meaningful way, focus on projects that target sustainability in alignment with Qatar National Vision 2030 and to contribute to achieving the MoEHE’s strategy.
The team was on the final shortlist of nominees for one of the three top awards in the category ‘Exceptional NXplorers Project by a Student Team’, in acknowledgement of their great work to utilise magnetic forces in reducing soil acidity and increasing land arability. Seeing the creative and sustainable approach, the project is now being considered as a case study that focuses on how to aid farmers in the process of producing higher quality and higher yield crops while using fewer resources and ensuring environmental conservation.
NXplorers workshops introduce concepts to help students explore real world issues related to water, food, and energy. In addition, the students are empowered with tools used to analyse their chosen issue, explore future scenarios, and brainstorm solutions that could tackle the issue.
More importantly, being co-implemented in Qatar by Ibtechar, the workshops connect education and application, helping the students gain a new vision, both inside and outside the classroom, to apply their learnings and make their ideas real.
“I would like to congratulate our young innovators for this international feat. Their impressive solution will help Qatar to reduce reliance on imports, thus becoming a more self-sufficient and prosperous economy,” said Einas Mohammed, Programme Manager at Ibtechar.
“Being so distinguished among hundreds of participants from around the world is not an easy thing. This early success will definitely motivate the team to continue to pursue higher levels of innovation in the future, and we will be there to sponsor, empower, and guide them,” Mohammed added.
Ibtechar works with public schools under MoEHE to hold learning-by-doing workshops for students in the 11-14 age group, with a view to inspiring talented young people to be the problem-solvers and leaders of the future.
Shell NXplorers programme currently operates in 17 countries around the world and has benefited over 35,000 students. It is principally focused on addressing issues surrounding food, water, and energy.
