The Penang camp, held over three days at a hotel, was part of the US Embassy’s fourth annual nationwide social innovation camp.
At the camp, 65 students from Perak, Penang, Kedah and Johor worked on improving their command of English and their leadership skills to prepare for the ‘Idea Pitching’ competition held on the last day.
The teams then pitched ideas for evalua-tion by a panel of three judges comprising US Embassy Cultural Affairs officer Arend C. Zwhartjes, Green entrepreneur Zye Ramli from Work Palette and senior lecturer from Universiti Sains Malaysia School of Management Shahidan Shafie.
Zwhartjes said the winning teams were chosen because their plans were relevant to their respective communities.
The schools involved were SMK Air Itam, SMK Hutchings, SMK Permatang Tok Labu, SMK Mak Mandin and SMK Padang Polo from Penang; SMK Lahat, SMK Dato Seri Maharaja Lela, SMK Dato Idris in Perak; SMK Mahang and SMK Dato’ Berjaya Setia (Kedah); and SMK Kota Masai 2, SMK Taman Seri Kluang, and SMK Teknik from Johor.
The second leg of the camp will be held in Kuching from May 23 to 25 and another camp at Kuala Terengganu from June 17 to 19.