Welcome! 👋
Hey, I’m Yameen - a 15-year-old Activator at The Knowledge Society (TKS), Editor at students x students, TEDx Speaker, podcast host, STEAM Student, and Army Cadet.
I’m incredibly passionate about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Gene-Editing (GE). Currently working to leverage GE technologies to cure genetic problems (prev. LCA10).
My mission in life is to make an impact on the lives of others. There are so many underrepresented in our country (and globally), and I believe it’s up to us to take advantage of our opportunities to create a better world for them!
It’s been a wild ride, and I’m so glad to have you joining me! But, you didn’t come here to learn about my life goals; you came to learn about my month.
So, here you go!
February! 🌨
With one of the coldest months of the year coming to an end, it’s time for another monthly newsletter! From placing in a case competition to grinding on a new TKS Challenge (🥧), February taught me a lot about one thing: Priorities.
I’ll have all that and more in this month’s episode of My Structurally Unstructured Life! Welcome to my February!
Uplift Ontario’s 2022 Case Competition.
Last month, I joined a case study competition focusing on implementing policy changes to resolve Ontario's homelessness crisis. As a contestant, I had the opportunity to pitch my idea to Minister Mendicino, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
After a few weeks of reaching out to organizations, researching, and developing my idea, I gave my presentation. Looking back, it was a wonderful experience - being able to talk with organizations and people who’ve witnessed or faced these challenges first-hand and being able to create a solution for something that impacts so many, was simply… amazing.
That experience was amplified even more when I was notified that out of +200 contestants, I came in 3rd and that my idea is in potential talks of actually being implemented in the real world!
Special thanks to Justin Schwartz and the rest of the Uplift team for making this possible!
TKS Activate’s PIE Challenge.
This month, TKS Activate launched our first challenge of the year: The Problems Incentivized Economically Challenge or, in short, the PIE (🥧) Challenge!
Last year, in Innovate, the goal of our challenges was to find a problem and create a solution to address the problem.
In Activate, we’re taking it one step further: Creating a solution to address the problem in the most economically incentivized way possible.
What’s even better is that we’re partnering up with one of the biggest companies in the world: Shell.
Our goal?
Propose a real, specific, actionable way for Shell to lead the industry to net-zero by 2050.
My team consisting of Venkat, Carlos, and I have been grinding for the past few weeks on turning our ideas into reality. We still have less than a week left before submissions are due and we know that this last week will be the most challenging of them all! But, we’re hyped for what’s next!
I will keep you all updated on our progress and might even share what we came up with in the next newsletter… stay tuned!
Monthly Wisdom.
Unlike the previous newsletters, this month’s Monthly Wisdom won’t be as “philosophical” as the others. Instead, I want to give you some insight on something that has challenged me a lot this past month: Priorities.
Coming into the month, I had a long list of priorities in mind: GE research, case competitions, PIE challenge, podcast, content, clubs, and more. However, as I started to progress through the month, I realized one thing: It’s hard to keep many priorities and excel in each of them.
As the saying goes…
“Jack of all trades, master of none.”
There’s no point in doing a hundred things, simply to be average in each of them. What’s more valuable is to do less, but excel in each of them.
Knowing this, I decided to narrow down my focus and excel in that focus. This month, my priorities were two things: Case competitions and the PIE challenge. Although the PIE challenge is not over yet, prioritizing the case competition definitely paid off (😉).
That’s it…for now!
February was a great month for evaluating my priorities and determining what’s important to me. In the coming month of March, there’s a lot more to be excited for! From finalizing the PIE challenge to March break, I’m hyped for what’s next.
So until then, enjoy your March!
- Yameen ✌️