đź“ť Summary
Student leaders from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Khir Johari participated in the 5G Minds programme, a character-building and leadership development initiative that combined teamwork, digital literacy, and AI innovation. The programme included an Explore Race activity and an AI for Student Leaders Workshop, where students learned to use AI tools to generate ideas and create digital content. The programme aimed to nurture future-ready leaders equipped with strong character, teamwork skills, and leadership values.
BERANANG, June 13 – Student leaders from Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Khir Johari, Beranang, participated in the 5G Minds programme, an initiative designed by Dr. Siti Suhaila Ihwani from the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities (FSSH) Kuala Lumpur, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) to nurture future-ready leaders equipped with strong character, teamwork skills, digital literacy, and leadership values.
The programme commenced with an engaging motivational talk delivered by Ahmad Hazran Ahmad Kamal, better known as Imam Muda Aran and Ustaz Abdul Muhaimin Abirerah, followed by an exciting Explore Race activity.
In total, the students need to solve problems at 10 different checkpoints. Working in groups, they navigated a variety of physical, mental, and strategy-based tasks that required cooperation, critical thinking, and effective decision-making.
While the younger participants were engaged in the Explore Race, the upper form students (and also some Form 3) leaders attended the artificial intelligence (AI) for Student Leaders Workshop conducted by Dr. Nurhasmiza Abu Hasan Sazalli, Dr. Nuraqilah Nadjwa Miskam, Nur Fatimah Mohd Radzi, Cik Zuraida Che Leh @ Hussin.
The students learned practical prompting techniques and explored how Gemini could be used to generate ideas, design posters, minutes of meetings and reports.
Then, they uploaded their work to Padlet, creating a collaborative digital showcase of their learning outcomes. For many students, it was their first experience using both generative AI tools and Padlet as collaborative learning platforms.
The showcase not only highlighted students’ creativity and adaptability but also demonstrated their ability to leverage emerging technologies to support leadership initiatives and school development.
To celebrate the students’ achievements throughout the programme, various prizes were awarded to participants who demonstrated outstanding leadership, teamwork, creativity, and active participation during the Explore Race and AI for Student Leaders Workshop.
A unique strength of the 5G Minds programme was the multidisciplinary team of facilitators who brought together expertise from various academic backgrounds from the Master of Islamic Studies and Master of Education in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) programmes, as well as undergraduate students from different faculties within UTM.
Special appreciation was extended to the Senior Teacher for Languages of SMK Khir Johari, Rina Kartini Khairul Anwar, whose unwavering support and coordination were instrumental in making the programme a success.
Speaking at the conclusion of the programme, Dr. Nurhasmiza Abu Hasan Sazalli, the overall project leader of GeekEd, praised the students for their discipline, enthusiasm and eagerness to learn.
She also commended UTM facilitators for their dedication and professionalism, noting that their commitment contributed significantly to the programme’s success.
5G Minds is a sub-project of GeekEd, a University Social Responsibility (USR) project funded through the Knowledge Transfer Programme Research Innovation Grant (KTP-RIG) 2026 by the UTM Centre for Community and Industry Network (CCIN). All photos, videos, and highlights from 5G Minds and other GeekEd initiatives can be viewed on the official GeekEd Instagram page, @geeked.utmkl.
