How The Knowledge Society (TKS) changed my life
A year ago, I was just an ordinary teenager, unsure of my future and how I could make a difference in the world. Then I found TKS, a program that helps teens work on global problems. Joining TKS changed everything for me, opening up opportunities I never imagined and showing me how I can truly make an impact. From working on challenges alongside Microsoft, Tiktok and even Google to building projects with Brain-Computer-Interfaces, this has been a truly transformative experience.
I remember how lost I was last spring, I was very anxious about how other people perceived me, I was tired of living the same day over and over again, I knew I was born to do more impactful things and had this deep desire in me to change.
But I just didn’t know how to.
Then, I stumbled upon an ad on Snapchat about this program called „TKS“. I clicked on „skip“. But a week after this had happened, I got that exact same ad again, I accidentally clicked on it and landed on this „weird“ page, or so I thought. After reading through everything, I was amazed by all of these cool stories about Alumni working at SpaceX or 16-year olds doing TED talks about cool technologies. But I doubted myself, thought that I could never achieve stuff like this and worried about what others might think of me. I kept pushing my application away for weeks and weeks on end. But suddenly I had a realization.
These people have been in the exact same place as me and why should I worry about what others think of me when I’m not even thinking about them? Did I notice that they were wearing banana socks yesterday? No I didn’t, so why should they?
Life is too short to not start with what you want to do!
So I applied and got accepted! I remember how I went to go to sleep but got an acceptance email, ran to my mom and was so excited, I started crying happy tears!
I’ve made so many awesome and sweet friends during my time here, not just acquaintances but real friends I’ll have contact with even after these beautiful 10 months have ended.
I’ve learnt about so many things: Mindsets (e.g. Growth Mindset..), technologies (such as gene-editing..), global problems (like world hunger..) and much much more.
I’ve learnt how to code Python. I even programmed my own version of Flappy Bird, controlling it with my brain through a BCI and also programmed an EEG classifier to differentiate between attention and non-attention states in the brain!
I’ve became much more self-confident through learning about mindsets like Stoicism and being in an environment, in which I felt safe and understood.
We’ve worked on many projects and challenges. There was e.g. the Fall Challenge, the many hackathons and an awesome Moonshot project, in which my team and I designed a BCI headset called „NeuroNinja“ that detects brain cancer by using EEG technology. All that in the span of 10 months. And mind, I had no skills whatsoever before I started this program, all I had was the desire to change and to help other people.
To be honest, I can’t believe I’m almost done with the Innovate program. Time moves fast when you have fun!
So if you think about applying, do it! I promise you’ll have so much fun with getting to know other amazing people, learning about emerging technologies and becoming more self-confident.
