[Applause]
long ago there was a small frog who live
deep underground in an old well he lived
there all his life but it was dull in
that emotion only catching glimpses of
the Sun above one day due to an
impending storm the well beckoned the
bird to come down to take shelter who
said to the Frog
come outside into the real world where
there’s warmth and laughter but the Frog
merely scoffed at the bird thinking that
the well was his only world this is a
sad story of the frog in a well from the
Chinese fable Sindhi Java it’s a story
about finding opportunities when I heard
the story for my mother when I was young
I would always feel sorry for the
problem but looking back at it now I
realized that I was the Frog all my life
I knew this legend just imagine someone
who could reach the national level in
math science and computer science as
well as be one of the top writers out of
school I’ve been living in the same
household as a legend all my life my
brother as you may imagine living under
a shadow was tough I was constantly
compared with my peers and teachers and
I found myself stuck in the math him due
to his influence although math never
really clicked with me so I lacked
exposures to new opportunities and more
importantly I felt trapped in a well I
lacked the individual drive to find
these new opportunities for myself which
I knew could only be done by trying new
things stepping out of my comfort zone
and taking risks so in these situations
we are always told that making a change
for better or worse is always better
than staying still so leaving my family
for a boarding school was my first step
in the getting out of that well although
I didn’t know what I wanted to do at
this
near school I knew I had to do something
to forge my own path outside of my
brother’s influence so due to all the
talk and hype about computer science
I found myself learning a variety of
technologies frameworks programming
languages but nothing to committing yet
one day a friend suggested going to a
hackathon widgeon with him which is a
gathering of designers developers and
entrepreneurs for a day all for the sake
of innovation and utilizing primarily
these computer science skills so I went
to this first hackathon of mine
primarily due to an obligation to try
new things and I didn’t expect much from
it but actually being there I realized
there is much more to this thing called
hackathon I was truly able to allow my
mind to wander into the realms of
innovation and making aside from all the
jury confines of score commitments
homework so what got me so inspired at
these hackathons being able to
brainstorm a multitude of ideas was one
thing but the thing that struck me the
most was the fact that I can Amelie get
down to coding in the makerspace and
execute on an idea that excited both me
and my partner I was able to see my ab
ideas come to life during these tiring
gatherings which were previously just
dreams
for example from just talk about
bringing the peer tutor system online we
were able to build an incomplete but
robust web application allowing users to
create virtual study groups and with
cool features such as virtual classrooms
even today I’m still in close contact
with that hackathon partner we’re
constantly challenging each other to add
new complex features to our app well the
important thing is this hackathons were
the catalyst to get all these projects
started they were the door openers the
birds that whispered into my ears all
the exciting new opportunities out there
in the world of coding projects once I
can start actually utilizing my computer
science skills to actually do something
formed a strong passion me for computer
science and for the first time I felt in
identity away for my brother away from
the middle school math team and away
from the confining well but just coding
by myself and with my partner was not
enough at least for me to truly enjoy
what I’m doing is really important to
engage with the community not only does
it help others but also commits myself
in a good way
once my actions start affecting others
sure
I taught Java and Python at the youth
summer camps I built websites for local
businesses with this constant
reoccurring thought nagged my brain they
thought that I wish I had the Hakka
hackathon opportunity at an earlier age
and I realized that there is this larger
need for young teens to engage with
innovation I’m not talking about all
those entrepreneurship 101 courses that
are starting to appear everywhere I’m
talking about learning by doing in the
environment that is hands-on engaging
and collaborative hackathons are just
simply one subset of these kind of
environments but they too are scarce
especially at the East Coast at the high
school level so one day my roommate
suggested starting our own hackathon
hack miss hack New England High School’s
one that is open to all high scores in
the area with more swag food prizes all
the good stuff something clicked in my
brain that was it started my own
hackathon was the perfect way to address
that nagging feeling inside my brain but
after all my initial excitement I felt
lost I had no idea where to start with
finding sponsorships managing finance
marketing all for the sake of providing
a free open the public fun Saturday of
coding but despite this I was really
motivated to an eager to get through
these struggles because I had made that
commitment to others and I didn’t want
to let my participants down so
overcoming these struggles I’ve bought
the game from them but fast forward to
the night after the hack
I was grinning with my roommate after
successfully running a hackathon we
gathered over 250 high school students
from all over the area even as far as
New Hampshire although I was dazed the
feeling when people came up to me
thanking me for providing an experience
they never felt before at school teeming
with all their ideas and projects
invited me of my first experience with
the hackathon and I realized that I’m
truly working towards my goal pursuing
my love for programming even further but
also sharing the opportunity with others
later I was glad to hear that even today
many teams are continuing their projects
that were started at HACC Ness
so finding opportunity is a process the
first step is that we have to make the
change
it means listening to all your peers
teachers when they say to try every club
every offering there is second to engage
yourself with that opportunity that you
will find eventually engage by doing
starting a project third commitment is
key when my friends ask me how I managed
to pull off such a large-scale hackathon
it’s all about making that commitment to
the participants to the sponsors through
phone calls and of course my teammates
and all those who supported me through
my journey through weekly Skype calls
and finally the most important part
chances are people are feeling the same
lack of opportunity as you did and to
make an even greater social impact is
important to share your opportunity your
discoveries with others so with this
process of finding opportunity in mind
our generation will be set on a mission
to find new discoveries be more
interconnected with each other pushing
the boundaries for future innovation
thank you [Applause]