How I Found My Passion in AI at CIS

Thank you! I was amazed after receiving the offers! The offers served as a reminder of the hard work that I’ve put into this journey and it is an honor to be recognized by these world-class universities. 

I was initially drawn into machine learning by a tutor that kindly taught me about the fundamental algorithms such as logistic regression, linear regression, and the basics of neural networks. After seeing the results of my predictions for the very first time, I was amazed… and hooked! With a few bars of code, I was able to predict what was going to happen with a random input. This prompted me to dive deeper in this field with the goal to eventually create an AI that is able to generally perform with the combination of the strengths of all models, “AGI.”

How did your high school classes and teachers help you determine and achieve your educational goals?

My favorite subjects in high school are Physics and Biology. They expose my world view on what the world is truly like. For instance, learning about how our bodies work in biology had a significant impact on how I see health, and this fueled my interest in the subject. My perspective on the world has radically changed after properly comprehending these concepts, as though I have advanced closer to the "true" world.

To get closer to my goal, I have studied a Coursera course and found starter competitions on Kaggle to improve my fundamental skills in AI outside of CIS. CIS was very supportive of my passion, and encouraged me to pursue a career in this field. They gave me the tools and resources too, and this I would say, was a key driver to my academic excellence.

In these 6 years studying in CIS, I have received exceptional support and help from countless teachers and peers. CIS encourages students to deeply collaborate and work in teams to create and excel at projects. At the same time, the process allows for the individual growth of students. In my humble opinion, CIS helped me the most by providing an optimal learning environment that balances school work and free time; this really allowed me to hone my academic skills and discover my passion in Artificial Intelligence.

Upon reflection, I regret that I only started to practice self-discipline when it came to school work and extracurricular projects in the last semester of Grade 11. Due to this, I feel that I could have gained more opportunities and much more knowledge from my teachers and lessons.

However, I am also proud of the same because it was through this realization that I started to focus on healthy practices like working out (in the CIS Gym!), reading and even meditating. These beneficial habits allowed me to finish projects and online courses with ease, and increased my academic performance. So… if you’re reading this, the lesson here is that you must take advantage of the many opportunities that CIS gives you, because if you do, the world is your oyster.