I'm a 16 year old junior at North Reading High School in Massachusetts, America. Growing up, I struggled to gain the confidence to put myself out there. Self doubt would plague me until the fear of failing was greater than the fear of action itself. I felt lost and dejected. Then, the entire world locked down as COVID-19 swept across our lives. Quarantine gave me the free time to explore graphic design, UI/UX, and front end development - all things I had never been exposed to before, but suddenly found myself enjoying. Along the way, very special people poured their warmth into me as Canva and Figma became integral parts of my life. I view all of these abilities as tools to get me to the places where growth is destiny.
Now, why would anyone trust the words of a 16 year old? Good question. That's your choice whether you want to take that step. I'm not here to pretend I'm an expert, neither would that appeal to me in any way. The purpose of this blog is to offer you the chance to step into my perspective and see ways of viewing our society that are different from what you usually experience. What I want to do here is clear through all of the bullsh*t and give you what's actually going on in emerging technology, philosophy, and ethics. My core motto is that truth is the pathway to justice.
All around us, the world seems like it is falling apart and bringing down people's dreams with it. That is wrong. I once was a very pessimistic person, but after going through a social and emotional journey during quarantine, my worldview totally changed. In fact, the reason why many of us think negatively is because of the postmodernism pushed strongly in our society, where we as a species have finished with our period of philosophical and spiritual discoveries. I'm telling you right now that your life is a choice. You can choose to be sad and depressed, or you can choose to be stubbornly optimistic and courageously persistent. The key to unlocking joy is all in your hands.
My strong belief is that in life, you have to be the one to forge your own purpose. This means thinking outside of the box, asking questions, and not being afraid to offer a different perspective. All of these will inevitably be a struggle because it's pretty hard to stand out when all the world tells you is to fit in. No matter what, never be ashamed of who you are. A very hard lesson that has taken me years to learn, and that I am still learning. So for your sake, all of the thoughts and opinions here are my gift to you. Read through them, learn from them, and don't be afraid to leave a comment or two! I thrive on feedback :))
My Values
There are many inequities that still exist in the world today. While it is impossible to fix all of them at once, taking small steps one at a time will ensure a world of difference. Having personal experience with struggling to find internships outside of school for high schoolers, I am building a free online platform called FuseBloom that will solve that problem by custom curating opportunities for users. It's just for high schoolers who were once in the same spot where I was, brimming with untapped potential.
Being a curious and independent person, I've always sought to be surrounded by fellow innovators. This is why I've joined programs such as LaunchX and TKS that foster this kind of ambitious spirit. Below are some of the groups that I've been a part of:
Now, why would anyone trust the words of a 16 year old? Good question. That's your choice whether you want to take that step. I'm not here to pretend I'm an expert, neither would that appeal to me in any way. The purpose of this blog is to offer you the chance to step into my perspective and see ways of viewing our society that are different from what you usually experience. What I want to do here is clear through all of the bullsh*t and give you what's actually going on in emerging technology, philosophy, and ethics. My core motto is that truth is the pathway to justice.
All around us, the world seems like it is falling apart and bringing down people's dreams with it. That is wrong. I once was a very pessimistic person, but after going through a social and emotional journey during quarantine, my worldview totally changed. In fact, the reason why many of us think negatively is because of the postmodernism pushed strongly in our society, where we as a species have finished with our period of philosophical and spiritual discoveries. I'm telling you right now that your life is a choice. You can choose to be sad and depressed, or you can choose to be stubbornly optimistic and courageously persistent. The key to unlocking joy is all in your hands.
My strong belief is that in life, you have to be the one to forge your own purpose. This means thinking outside of the box, asking questions, and not being afraid to offer a different perspective. All of these will inevitably be a struggle because it's pretty hard to stand out when all the world tells you is to fit in. No matter what, never be ashamed of who you are. A very hard lesson that has taken me years to learn, and that I am still learning. So for your sake, all of the thoughts and opinions here are my gift to you. Read through them, learn from them, and don't be afraid to leave a comment or two! I thrive on feedback :))
My Values
- Authenticity: Not a fan of fake people for obvious reasons. I have a strong sense of intuition, which means that if someone is trying to fool me, I'll know. Be genuine when talking to me, that goes a longer way than compliments or flattery ever will.
- Proactivity: People such as Malala who hold strong beliefs in what is right and take action to make justice a reality really inspire me. They are the backbone of this world, preventing humanity from bending under the weight of its sin.
- Goofiness: Hey, the world may seem like a dark place sometimes! All of us need a good laugh every now and then. Pull up a pun, witty sarcasm, or even a silly face and that will make my day!
- Optimism: Not fake optimism like the type on school posters. Life is hard sometimes. Take it with a grain of salt from me, thinking positive will give you greater peace of mind than the best news. Most of all, practicing stoicism and not reacting to your surroundings will give you the power to control your often volatile emotions.
- Creativity: Society encourages conformity with its preset boxes and neat little checklists. Why fit in when you can stand out? The Next Big Thing is waiting to be released into the world...and it's all in your head. One of my favorite things to see in a person.
- Open Mindedness: Ever meet a person who's so arrogant that they don't even admit it when they're wrong? Don't be that person. Humans naturally gravitate towards someone who's charming, cheerful, and accepting. Respect goes a long way towards opening doors.
- Truth: The most important thing on this list. Even if you are called a liar, never stop telling the truth. Trust me when I say that the worst atrocities that this world has ever seen were built upon lies. It is your responsibility as a human being and steward of our species to speak truth to power. Screw groupthink.
There are many inequities that still exist in the world today. While it is impossible to fix all of them at once, taking small steps one at a time will ensure a world of difference. Having personal experience with struggling to find internships outside of school for high schoolers, I am building a free online platform called FuseBloom that will solve that problem by custom curating opportunities for users. It's just for high schoolers who were once in the same spot where I was, brimming with untapped potential.
Being a curious and independent person, I've always sought to be surrounded by fellow innovators. This is why I've joined programs such as LaunchX and TKS that foster this kind of ambitious spirit. Below are some of the groups that I've been a part of:
Here is the link to my up-to-date resume for a more detailed look into my past work.
Over the past two years, I've grown immensely as a person. Here is what I've done up to date:
2019
- organized and hosted the presentation for the World of Science club at our school's annual Activity Fair, an event where 200+ students come to check out the diverse variety of clubs that are offered
- collaborated with teachers and peers alike to re-start our school's literary magazine
- re-started our school's newspaper, The Deliberator, with the help of club advisors and interested students
- built and designed our school newspaper's website, which is used daily by the student body
- used graphic design skills to make 3 posters to promote clubs, as well as the logo for our school newspaper
- Fluent in Java, HTML, CSS, and Javascript
- served as a KTBYTE TA (Teaching Assistant) for 2 years and have taught 4 classes
- programmed a teacher-based feature as a Development Intern that allows student projects to be featured on the KTBYTE website using both back-end and front-end languages
2020
- accepted into LaunchX, one of the most prestigious business programs for high school students with an acceptance rate of around 12%
- wrote articles about mental health and education for GenZ Writes
- participated in Built By Girls WAVE, a 1:1 skills-based mentorship program that partners young women with advisors in the tech industry to learn about various roles including product management, data science, and software engineering
- joined Reinvented Magazine as an Operations Staff Member
- founded FuseBloom, a free online platform for high schoolers that custom curates internship and summer opportunities to advance equity in education
- gained a position at VJP Marketing designing content for their Instagram feed to gain more experience in graphic design; quit because it no longer became a priority
- promoted Hack3's summer hackathon as a Community/Social Media Manager
- gained a position at Coding 4 Community as a web developer and workshop coordinator; quit because it no longer became a priority
- became a business development intern who tackles white label advertising at The Trill Project, a Y-Combinator backed company centered around an anonymous social media app for LGBTQ+ people and people struggling with their mental health
- was accepted into The Knowledge Society, a program that trains kids ages 13-17 to think Olympic-level about some of the world's biggest problems and how to solve them using exponential technologies
- Placed Top 8 in the Bloom Entrepreneurship Challenge out of 46 teams with our project, Finessify
2021
- Won Best Visual Award in Sigmoid Hacks out of 390 global participants with our project, Finessify. Was awarded Discord Nitro as a prize.
- Won 2nd Place (Silver) in XD Hacks Mini out of 120 global participants with FInessify. Was awarded monthly subscriptions to a variety of different software platforms.
- Cheers to all of the amazing experiences ahead!
Over the past two years, I've grown immensely as a person. Here is what I've done up to date:
2019
- organized and hosted the presentation for the World of Science club at our school's annual Activity Fair, an event where 200+ students come to check out the diverse variety of clubs that are offered
- collaborated with teachers and peers alike to re-start our school's literary magazine
- re-started our school's newspaper, The Deliberator, with the help of club advisors and interested students
- built and designed our school newspaper's website, which is used daily by the student body
- used graphic design skills to make 3 posters to promote clubs, as well as the logo for our school newspaper
- Fluent in Java, HTML, CSS, and Javascript
- served as a KTBYTE TA (Teaching Assistant) for 2 years and have taught 4 classes
- programmed a teacher-based feature as a Development Intern that allows student projects to be featured on the KTBYTE website using both back-end and front-end languages
2020
- accepted into LaunchX, one of the most prestigious business programs for high school students with an acceptance rate of around 12%
- wrote articles about mental health and education for GenZ Writes
- participated in Built By Girls WAVE, a 1:1 skills-based mentorship program that partners young women with advisors in the tech industry to learn about various roles including product management, data science, and software engineering
- joined Reinvented Magazine as an Operations Staff Member
- founded FuseBloom, a free online platform for high schoolers that custom curates internship and summer opportunities to advance equity in education
- gained a position at VJP Marketing designing content for their Instagram feed to gain more experience in graphic design; quit because it no longer became a priority
- promoted Hack3's summer hackathon as a Community/Social Media Manager
- gained a position at Coding 4 Community as a web developer and workshop coordinator; quit because it no longer became a priority
- became a business development intern who tackles white label advertising at The Trill Project, a Y-Combinator backed company centered around an anonymous social media app for LGBTQ+ people and people struggling with their mental health
- was accepted into The Knowledge Society, a program that trains kids ages 13-17 to think Olympic-level about some of the world's biggest problems and how to solve them using exponential technologies
- Placed Top 8 in the Bloom Entrepreneurship Challenge out of 46 teams with our project, Finessify
2021
- Won Best Visual Award in Sigmoid Hacks out of 390 global participants with our project, Finessify. Was awarded Discord Nitro as a prize.
- Won 2nd Place (Silver) in XD Hacks Mini out of 120 global participants with FInessify. Was awarded monthly subscriptions to a variety of different software platforms.
- Cheers to all of the amazing experiences ahead!