Ayaan's Monthly Briefing💼
An overview of activities done in the month of October!
Hello everyone, I am Ayaan Nanji! I am Grade 12 student from Brampton, Ontario Canada and I am very interested in Cancer Research & Care, Immunotherapy, Synthetic Biology and Orthopedics! I am also part of TKS (The Knowledge Society). Aside from academics, my few hobbies and interests are Hockey, Baseball, doing a bit of GFX on blender and writing.
🚀 THE KNOWLEDGE SOCIETY (TKS) 📚
On my third attempt of applying (started in Grade 9), I was accepted into the TKS community. It seems the saying "third time is the charm" is true, lol. Staying persistent in my efforts to get into TKS and not giving up was worth it. This is because TKS is a unique program in a million that is a human accelerator in helping the new generation to strive for success and create solutions to current problems with the use of emerging technologies. Moreover, there is a significant focus on nurturing an environment that fosters the growth and development of future minds aimed at having an impact on human civilization. TKS helps mould future innovators and leaders with the right tools and mentors.
🤔What am I doing?
TKS: For TKS I am doing explore modules that are essentially a series of topics that have information and resources associated to learn about. For example, I have completed the Cancer, Longevity, T-Cells, Personalized Medicine and Synthetic Biology module that provided a variety of research papers, videos and articles to read and increase your understanding of the topic. Furthermore, in our session, we also gave presentations on Blockchain and Longevity within a short time frame. One of the most important takeaway points from these presentations was that we are able to develop new skills and learn new topics even in a short time frame, but we tend to prolong the process and waste substantially more time when we are not in an environment which demands new learning and growth. Moreover, I am also participating in a presentation intensive that has changed the way I perceive presentations. After getting feedback on my initial presentation from the Alumni it gave me a brand new perspective on how presentations really should be done that are not only informative but also have an impact on the audience. This was an adjustment and a gain of new knowledge as being accustomed to the school's presentation criteria for years was much different from TKS.
As part of my Focus for TKS, I am leaning towards doing Synthetic Biology 🧬 as it piqued my interest in it immensely and overlaps with one of my interests that is immunotherapy. Aside from that, synthetic biology has immense versatility that can be used in a variety of fields beyond medicine, including tackling climate change, developing more nutrient-dense and allergy-free foods, etc.
University Preparations: The most stressful time of the year has begun for Grade 12 students as applications for Universities have started. It’s gonna be A LOT OF refreshing and checking Gmail and OUAC for acceptance offers from now to June, lol.
I am glad that I have decided what I want to do and where to apply, which are: Health, Life Sciences, and Medical Sciences programs. The goal is to get into Med School and getting into one of these programs will greatly help in preparation and exposure to new areas in the spectrum of medicine.
Extracurriculars: The majority of my extracurricular activities revolve around helping others through the means of informing. These include: being a vice director at a Vancouver based medical conference competition, executive writer for a group that focuses on helping prospective university students, writer for a Medical Journal aimed at informing the youth, Junior Volunteer lead at my place of worship and a Co-Founder of a group that provides reliable and complete information on Universities and their programs (Please do check out the website if interested https://guidingvision.org/)
💬Quote of the month
In my free time, I enjoy surfing around for quotes as some can be very inspirational and thought-provoking, which can motivate you to achieve your goals and ambitions, no matter what scale they may be.
This month’s quote is in respect to the mindset of appreciation.
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” - President JFK
If you really mean something then you must live by it to truly show your gratitude. Do something actionable to reflect your true appreciation rather than saying you're grateful and walking away.
Goals for November
Write a medium article on Synthetic Biology (Be on the watch for that 👀)
Dedicate some time to reading books
Do 10 braindates
Start getting back into the habit of maintaining physical fitness
Meet people who are involved within the field of Synthetic Biology
That’s All Folks!
Thank you for making it this far into my newsletter! November’s newsletter will come out earlier and hopefully will have some jammed-packed fun stuff to share! Also, please do consider subscribing if you want to see more content!!