Jordanian students participating in Intel International Fair receive recognition

The ceremony was also attended by the Minister of ICT Eng. Omar Al Kurdi, Intel EMEA Education Manager Dr. Martina Roth, and MobileCom CEO Mrs. Majd Shweikeh.

Also attending the ceremony were MOE Secretary General Educational and Technical Affairs Tayseer Neimi, Secretary General Managerial Affairs Dr. Ahmad Battah, as well as other representatives from the attending parties.
Intel EMEA Education Manager Dr. Martina Roth congratulated the students, their parents and teachers on their achievements and also thanked MobileCom for the generous sponsorship, and heartedly thanked the Ministry of Education for their collaboration. She further expressed her admiration of the great vision and leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah II, and continued, "Intel realizes the power and importance of education. Through major initiatives such as the Intel Digital Transformation Initiative for the Middle East and Intel's World Ahead Program, Intel is working to raise student achievement and enhance academic productivity to support thriving communities around the globe."

"We firmly believe that education is the essential ingredient that will prepare us all for a changing future. New technologies will continue to transform the world in ways we cannot yet imagine. To survive and thrive in this knowledge-based economy, tomorrow's citizens, employees, and customers must be equipped with 21st century skills. Intel is committed to improving education today so that students will be able to thrive tomorrow," she continued.

For her part, MobileCom CEO Mrs. Majd Shweikeh said as she praised the support of Her Majesty: "We thank her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah for giving this event her patronage. MobileCom, as a main sponsor of this initiative, is greatly proud with the positive results achieved by our students at Intel ISEF 2006. We are really delighted of backing this initiative as it truly encouraged Jordanian talent to showcase their creativity by producing promising projects."

Before the conclusion of the activities, Minister of Education, Intel EMEA Education Director and MobileCom CEO handed over plaques to the winners and participants in the final fair in Indiana as well as principles and teachers. Coordinators and arbitration committee officials also received certificates in recognition of their valuable efforts. Furthermore, Toukan distributed Scientific Excellency Certificates to the winners and acknowledgment plaques to Intel and MobileCom. Students who took part in the affiliated fairs will also receive participation certificates later on through their Directorates.

Minister of Education Dr. Khaled Toukan also met the students who participated in the final fair in Indiana, where he listened to a brief from the students on their projects.

Also present at the ceremony were the parents of the participating students along the students who took part in the local arbitration fairs on which the final students were selected to participate in Intel ISEF, the arbitration committee's officials, the Ministry's directors, head of administrations and other officials from the Ministry's directorates.

Dana Jamal Abdul-Jalil, a 16 year old student from the Montessori Modern School, won the fourth place prize in the Grand Awards for the winner students in Intel ISEF for her project in environment. Her project revolves around finding the concentration of acidic gases in diesel exhaust and then invents a device that will minimize the percentage of acidic gases in diesel exhaust.

On the other hand, Sa'ed Younes Daraghme, a 16 year old student from King Abdullah School, won the second place award in the Law Association American Intellectual Property during a Special Award Ceremony. His project, which was in the environmental science field, reduces the fuel consumption, increases the efficiency of the car engine and reduces the environmental pollution by placing a specific spring in pulling pipes behind the Carburetor of the traditional benzene car engine which will improve the process of mixing fuel with air besides dividing and fragmenting fuel atoms which guarantees fuel combustion close to complete.

MobileCom's support for Intel ISEF, which is considered the first of its kind in Jordan, took various aspects, such as the company's launch of a creative advertising and media campaign on different stages to increase the awareness of the fair and its international status, and to encourage the students wherever they were to take part in it. The company's support to the fair also helped to improve the level of the local fairs and to finance a number of promising projects in addition to giving a chance for a larger number of students to partake in the local competition, leading to increasing the number of the Jordanian delegation to the international fair in the United States (8 students and 4 supervisors). The leading GSM operator provided all the facilities for the Jordanian delegation; from air flight tickets, traveling procedures, uniforms, to daily allowances and mobile lines with scratch cards in order for them to stay in contact with their family and friends. MobileCom also paid all the expenses for the final ceremony.

The initiative started in Jordan with 400 students being nominated during this year among thousands of others who have applied from different schools across the Kingdom to participate in the scientific competitions, which were supported by the Ministry and MobileCom. These students then participated in a series of local fairs and competitions, which took place in February 2006 in different areas; the north, the middle and the south regions. Afterwards, students proven to be promising in the domain of science and engineering were chosen to partake in the final local arbitration fairs which were held during mid of February in two fairs; one for the north and the south regions, while the other one was for the middle region. The qualifying students from these fairs were chosen to compete on an international level in Intel ISEF, which took place in Indiana, USA this year.