November Newsletter
Touring the Google Office, building a Fashion GAN, and seeing the fruition of a year-long event come to life!
Hey there! If you’re new here, I’m Meilly and I’m a high school junior based in Toronto. Thanks for checking out my newsletter to get a snippet of my life! 💗
Something that really bothers me about the month of November is that no one pays any attention to it. The moment Halloween passes on October 31st, it’s Christmas time! Like, what? As much as I love the winter break, are you seriously going to go from the last day of October to the end of December, as if there isn’t a whole 30+ days in between? Maybe this only riles me up because I was born in November… but anyways—
—this month’s newsletter includes the following:
🏢 Google Office Tour
👗 Fashion GAN
🔥 Ignite Fair and Collage
🎂 My 16th Birthday
💝 Extras
🏢 Google Office Tour
On November 15th, I had the honour of joining The Knowledge Society (TKS) on a tour of the Google office in Downtown Toronto, thanks to Billal Qureshi. Being someone interested in AI, I wrote an article about some of the wagers Google is making in that field to follow up on some of the things we learned there!
In the simplest way I can put it, the office was super cool. 😎 I loved the vibe of the place! Some of the rooms looked like great places to just chill and watch a movie or something. Also, the couches were👌. I didn’t photograph any, but you can see one in the background of this picture:
Oh, and I don’t know if this is allowed to be made public but (🤫 shhh…) there was a secret room hidden behind a bookshelf! I remember dreaming of seeing one in real life when I was in Grade 3, after interacting with one in my favourite video game. It’s safe to say that one of my dreams came true that day!
Thank you so much again to Billal and TKS for this opportunity!
👗 Fashion GAN
My next project in the AI field is a Fashion GAN! I tried being a bit more bold with the video here— crawling out of a closet and simulating a conversation with… myself 😆
🔥 Ignite Fair and Collage
This was super fun, but at the same time, kinda disappointing.
I was certain that November 25th, the date of both of these events, would be the highlight of my month. It was indeed a really wonderful day, but…
…it was so underwhelming.
I’m part of Ignite Fair, a youth non-profit organisation that hosts Canada’s largest annual volunteer fair and other events to connect high schoolers to valuable volunteer opportunities. We’ve organised many successful events this year, like Spark Sessions to advise elementary school students going into high school and a July coffeehouse. I guess you can say my hopes were a little too high for our titular event on the 25th.
Don’t get me wrong, the event went really well! I loved vibing with the team, especially because we’ve only had a few in-person meetings. We even made a shopping trip to Dollarama to buy decorations, including balloons to make a show-stopping balloon arch! (I actually didn’t know how to tie balloons before then 😅 so I definitely left with at least one new skill! I still can’t blow balloons though 😮💨)
I think my main takeaway from this was that sometimes hard work may not pay off entirely, and also not to expect something to be successful just for legacy reasons.
Just a couple hours after the fair’s end, some of the other members of the organising committee and I went to the Markham Mayor Youth Council’s annual semi-formal, Collage! I was really looking forward to celebrating our accomplishments this term and meeting members of other youth organisations (as the semi-formal was described as a “networking event”).
I’d never been to a semi-formal before (skipping school semi-formals in favour of homework or a peaceful night to myself) so this was a welcome new experience! There were incredible performances, featuring a talented duo of singer-songwriters, a dance group (kudos to them for dancing in heels!), and a stellar saxophone player.
However, the event fell short in the networking aspect, which is what I was most looking forward to. There were some funny rounds of pictionary and a scavenger hunt selfie challenge, but everyone was mostly batched with their respective youth groups and not being very open to meeting new people. I did manage to meet a couple new people though!
🎂 My 16th Birthday
Last but not least, I’m 16 now! Not really sure what’s so “sweet” about it (other than the yummy cake and cheese tarts my family had 😋), but I can sense a lot of change will be happening in the coming year. It just so happens that 16 is my favourite number (because not only is it a perfect square, it’s a perfect square squared 🤩), so let’s see how I’ll make the most out of this age.
(My birthday is also on the 16th of November, which might be another reason why I’m fond of the number.)
Side Note: I can no longer reach out to people with the benefit of being an energetic young 15 year old 😭
💝 Extras
From left to right, top to bottom: My Collage outfit 🎀, the moon on a cold night 🌕, a tower I saw on the way to Ignite Fair 🏢, my name badge at Ignite Fair 📛, a stash of coupons I got from Kernels as sponsors 💵, a shot of the front of my school 🏫, me bundled up for the winter weather ❄️, and a plant at Google’s office building 🪴.
🗒️ Takeaways from the Month
The way you use your time is precious
Your perspective on things makes all the difference
Don’t be shy to be yourself
📢 Shoutouts
Thank you so much to all the people who helped me last month:
My family for always being there for me
My TKS Directors Skylor and Lyn for their insight and enthusiasm
My Grade 10 teacher Ms. Damji for continuing to guide and support me
My team at the 2023 Ignite Fair Organising Committee for an awesome term
Final Thoughts: November was a month with its ups and downs, but it was a good one nevertheless. Let’s take this as a push for the final stretch of the year!
Happy belated birthday! Loved this newsletter!