Hey there!
I'm Byeongjun and this is the latest issue of my monthly newsletter, featuring TKS' West Coast Hackathon, the Education Policython, and consulting for the UN!
You may have noticed that this newsletter was sent much later than when I usually send them -- you're right! I've had a SAT this past weekend and was occupied with it, and now I'm back to work on some exciting projects.
Highlights of the Month
TKS West Coast Hackathon
As most of you may know, I'm in a global accelerator program called The Knowledge Society -- the program is for driven students who want to make an impact on the world using emerging technologies and sciences.
During the first weekend of February, I teamed up with three friends from Los Angeles, to create Kayla, a safety net for your newborn baby.
Each year, an estimated 1.3 million babies sustain injuries serious enough to send them to emergency departments. That's why we created Kayla -- we combined YOLO and LSTM to create a two-in-one image recognition and motion prediction algorithm, so that the users can be notified on a potential collision or any injury-causing events.
At the end, we won the Best Overall Prize -- the amazing perks of this is getting the opportunity to talk to the judges, such as Tamer Mohamed, Siri Srinivas, and Mukesh Patel. Super excited for the opportunity to follow up with and learn more from them!
Education Policython
As an event of Policy for the People, the Education Policython ran from February 20-21, 2021. The event was a big success, with over 400 participants submitting over 60 policy briefs on various education-related issues from all around the world. I encourage you to read one of our winning papers, "Let's talk - Mental Health Matters".
The best part is, always, meeting new people! I had the opportunity to chat with mentors like Mark DeLoura, Senior Advisor for Digital Media for the Obama White House Office of Science and Technology Policy! Chatting with people with experiences from top fields always excites me, because they often provide first-hand, authentic and unconventional insights that are always fascinating to hear.
Consulting for the UN
Additionally, I'll be consulting for the UN over the next month, made possible through TKS' partnership with the United Nations. Our team is focusing on a solution to increase women's employment in the digital economy in the MENA region; I'm really excited to see what we'll come up with.
If you have any connections in the region, or if you'd like to provide any first-hand experiences, please do not hesitate to email me by replying to this newsletter - I'd love to hear from you!
What's next?
Well, two things.
Anti-fragility, at its best.
Have you heard of the term, anti-fragility? If not, press on the hyperlink to learn more about the word. I've been challenged a few weeks ago to train anti-fragility; what I've realized is that it's not just about being stronger from adversity and failures. It's more about prioritizing self-growth, knowing yourself the best, and as they call it, training your "growth mindset". If you're reading this, I'm challenging you to work on these things over the next week - and let me know how it goes!
- Take 10 minutes daily to measure your self growth
- Finding distractions and learning to control them
- Learn and analyze your sleeping schedule; and fix it to maximize your productivity throughout the day! For this, I recommend RISE.
Future events!
In March, you can find me working on:
- Consulting for the United Nations to increase women's employment in the digital economy in the MENA region
- Merge 2021, the world's first hack+policython - sign up as a participant here, or as a mentor/speaker/workshop lead here!
On an ending note
As mentioned above, last year I was accepted into The Knowledge Society, and it's the reason you're seeing my newsletter today. I'm super grateful to be surrounded by a community of unconventional high school students working on technologies and solving global issues. If you know students aged 13-17 that are ambitious and curious, please help me spread the word.
Applications for next year are already open; the deadline to apply is April 5th. While TKS is a need-blind program that offers A LOT of scholarships, you can also share this link or my code "BYMO0522" to give them $200 off their tuition. This program has been life-changing so far and I'd love to see more people in the program next year!
2021 is now already 16.67% over. Be intentional about the things you do, time really files!
Thanks for joining me on my journey, and if you've made it until the bottom of this newsletter, feel free to shoot me an email as a reply with feedback on my newsletters or anything else.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please share this with a few friends if you feel like it. They can subscribe to this newsletter through this link.
Until then, stay safe!
Byeongjun
p.s. Check out my Twitter — @bjmoonn! I usually post random thoughts, ideas or insights that I get at any point in a day.