School sports day in Ulu Tiram fuelled by creativity

STUDENTS and teachers of a secondary school in Ulu Tiram gave their imagination free rein for their sports day. They constructed mini petrol kiosks, a replica of the Petronas Twin Towers and even a robot costume that transformed into a truck.

SMK Puteri Wangsa disciplinary teacher Afif Ali said the theme of the event was “petrol stations” with each sports house choosing a petrol station.

“We are a big school with 1,930 students, so we have six sports houses – purple, orange, red, blue, green and yellow.”

Afif said the teachers and students discussed their ideas and collected materials to bring their idea to life.

SMK Puteri Wangsa students from the Red House came out tops for the sports day.

“The students were very excited and devoted their time in between classes and after school to work on their projects, which included decorating their tents with balloons and building replicas of roads, petrol stations and stores.

“The outcome was impressive. There was even a student who came in an inflatable tube man costume that is usually seen welcoming visitors at petrol stations.

“I decided to make a video clip of the event to document their efforts.

“I did not expect the video to go viral with more than 1.7 million views. Many commended the students for their creativity.

A robot costume that transforms into a truck.

“Some even suggested that we approach the petrol companies for sponsorship,” quipped Afif, adding that the winner of the sports day was Red House.

Besides having fun, he said the programme taught students the importance of teamwork, responsibility and setting realistic goals.

“They realised that it was easy to throw out ideas but to turn them into reality required time and effort.

“The programme was a valuable learning experience for them.

“Many of our 121 teachers are young and we will work on coming up with more fun and out-of-the-box themes to keep students interested,” said the design and technology teacher.