From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
St John’s Science and Technical College, Alor, in Idemili South, Anambra State, has won the 2021 Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) Stem Fair Competition.
The competition sponsored by Total and Shell Petroleum Companies is an annual competition for science and technology students in secondary and tertiary institutions in the South East and South-South, while the 2021 edition centred on clean energy and artificial intelligence.
The manager of the college, Rev Fr Francis Unegbu, who disclosed the victory of the institution to reporters, said over 30 schools in the two regions entered the competition.
Fr Unegbu, who appreciated the School Proprietor, Most Rev Valerian Okeke, the Catholic Archbishop of Onitsha for his encouragements to the school, said entries were thinned down to 18 schools from South-South and South East. Further assessments, according to him, were done and still thinned down to five schools which were then invited to come to Port Harcourt for face to face evaluation.
‘The panel of judges was drawn from the Universities of Port Harcourt and the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), and also directors from Total and Shell Petroleum Companies who are the sponsors,’ he said.
‘I want to tell you that to the glory of God, we came out victorious. We are the champions. The winner is our student, Master Joshua Chideraa Udedibia in SS1, from Electrical Department,’ Fr Unegbu said.
The school’s winning entry was a Robot produced by Udedibia and Sebastian Menihu Okolo which obeys voice commands and moves in any direction as commanded by the producer.
They beat the other four finalists, Edufort High School, Portharcourt, Rivers State, Niger Delta Science and Technical College, Effurun, Delta State, Federal Government College, Nise, Anambra State and Air force College, Portharcourt, Rivers State to clinch the winning prize.
The college, a mission school owned by the Catholic Diocese of Onitsha, was established in 1958 and has trained several notable personalities, including former governor of Anambra State and current Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige.