SMK Hillcrest

Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Hillcrest is a public school situated in Taman Sri Gombak and ranked as one of the best schools in the state of Selangor in Malaysia. The school is known for its achievement in standardised examinations such as Penilaian Menengah Rendah and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia. The school serves Form 1 to Form 5, Form 6 students are not accepted.

The school was started in 1989 and completed in 1991, opening its doors to students on 1 December 1990. The school area was originally an estate of 8.2 hectares. Hillcrest was named by the Gombak Prefecture Education Office after the company that developed Taman Seri Gombak i.e. Hillcrest Gardens Sdn. Bhd

Encik Irwan Tan Abdullah, who was the senior assistant, was elected as the first acting-principal. The first principal was Puan Sukma Murni Bt Abdul Samad 1st December 1992. During that time, only the Munsyi building operated and the Sri Lanang building was still under construction. Kajai building was opened in 1996. With the operation of the new building, the school had Kemahiran Hidup's Lab, three science labs and two classrooms.

On the 1 July 1997, Puan Rohani Bt Bakar became principal. She served six months before being transferred to SMK Melawati, and was succeeded by Puan Hodaima Bt Haji Halil. She served seven years before retirement in 2005. Pn Kamalyah Bt Teh Mohamed followed. The current principal is Pn Nik Maryam bt Idris who joined in August 2007.

The first PIBG meeting was launched by Yang Berhormat Hazrul Ezanie in 1993. She also launched the first schools's badge and flag. The badge contains red as the symbol of bravery, yellow and blue.

The school's first sports day was held on February 12, 1993 and was launched by Yang Berhormat Encik Ahmad Bahari Abdul Rahman, parliamentary member of Gombak. He also launched the school's first sport flag.

Founded in 1994, MRCS have a humble beginning in this school. Under the leadership of several charismatic and dedicated chairman, the society has emerged as one of the largest and most prominent society in the school with many contribution made either the school-level or in the district-level. It is one of the largest society in the school and each year, it receive participation from students of different background as its members. The two backbone of the society are First Aid Squad and the Elite Squad.

The First Aid Squad is the single most important squad of the society and is very prominent in the school. The squad was deployed to many events in the district-level for the past few years and actively participate in many activities held by the Gombak Malaysian Red Crescent Society and also the Majlis Sukan Sekolah Daerah activities. .

In 2011, the society reached another milestone when they formed their first ever batch of Elite Squad. This highly trained squad undergoes 4-weeks intensive training and each prospective-members are required to sit for an examination and required to pass with at least 60% marks for them to be officially accepted into the squad. The first examination was conducted at 5 Alpha with the questions set by the then-committee members.

In 2012, under the administration of the then charismatics and very dedicated chairman, the society reached another milestone when their first official Facebook page was setup with the objective to enhance the communication between the society members. In the same year, the society have also actively participate in many activities organized by the district MRCS and they themselves have also internally organized many activities for the members. Malaysian Red Crescent Society of SMK Hillcrest Facebook Page

Key people of SMK Hillcrest MRCS:

1. Corporal Visayaheini Muniandy (Chairman, incumbent)
2. Vivek Kumar (Secretary, incumbent)

Former-Key People:

1. Staff Sergeant Mohd Syameer Firdaus Bin Mohd Shafiaai (Chairman 2012)
2. Corporal Gan-I Ning (Secretary 2012)
3. Sergeant Mohd Syahnur Iman (Commander 2012)

1. Staff Sergeant Abdul Wafi Abdul Ghani (Chairman 2011)
2. Sergeant Tan Shen Tze (Commander 2011)

• Pn. Sharifah Bt Mamat, Headmistress.
• En. Mohd Fauzi bin Ibrahim, Senior Assistant.
• En. Bakeman Bin Chek, Senior Assistant HEM.
• En. Mohd Roslan Hussain, Co-Curricular.
• En. Ishak Bin Ibrahim, Afternoon Session.

In 2010, one of SMK Hillcrest's student, Arveent Srirangan Kathirtchelvan was the runner-up for The Star-ESUM-HSBC Public Speaking Competition.He won an all expenses paid trip to London to participate in The ESU International Public Speaking Competition.

In 2011, the SMK Hillcrest's debate team made it big by representing the state of Selangor (beating 10 teams on the way)in the Datuk Wira Debate Cup. In all 11 rounds, the Best Speaker award was given to Arveent Srirangan Kathirtchelvan (the 3rd speaker of the team)for 10 times (upon defeating Perak in the octofinals).

For the SPM examinations of year 2011, 4 students from SMK Hillcrest attained straight A+s. Among these students were Arveent Srirangan Kathirtchelvan (10 A+), Veeneshankar Ravichandar (10A+, who was also the 2nd speaker of the debate team of 2011), Dheebak Kumaran Jayakumaran (10A+) and Diviya Gunasegaran (9A+). This achievement made SMK Hillcrest the school with the most number of students scoring striaght A+ in the district of Gombak. These students were also in the list of the top 10 students of the state of Selangor. Arveent Srirangan was awarded the Tokoh Pelajar (Valedictorian) award for the year.

In 2012, once again, SMK Hillcrest proved itself as one of the best school in the district. In the 2012 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia Examination, one of its student was awarded as one of the best student in Selangor; Mohd Syameer Firdaus, the school's only straight A+ (highest distinction) student, the only student with A+ in Malay Language and English for Science and Technology subjects and also the former chairman of the school's Red Crescent Society, chief of publicity bureau for the Junior Councillors Society and treasurer of the Mathematics Society. He too have represented the school in many competitions and events organized at the district-level mainly under the Gombak Malaysian Red Crescent Society. Along with the Best Student of the Year Award, he is also awarded as the best student in Malay Language subject and English for Science and Technology subject of the year.

The award, Tokoh Pelajar 2012 (Best Overall Student of 2012) was awarded to Muhammad Faris Abdul Hamid. He is the closest competitor to Mohd Syameer Firdaus. He represented the school in many co curricular activities too. With both his outstanding performance in SPM and also in co curricular fields, he was awarded with the Tokoh Pelajar 2012 award. He is also the best student for Biology, Physics and Chemistry fields in that year.

• Majalah Bestari Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Hillcrest (2008), Edisi 11, Versi 2008
• Majalah Bestari Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Hillcrest (2007), Edisi 10, Versi 2007
• [1] Ministry of Education Malaysia official websites
• [2] UNESCO, Ministry of Education Malaysia

• [3] Unofficial students website

• Schools in Malaysia
• Education in Malaysia