Speaking at Collision, Exploring Space & History, Showcase, and Cousins

Letter? I Hardly Know Her! - June 2022

Welcome, WELCOME to Letter? I Hardly Know Her! I’m Apoorva (the her in question), a 17 y/o researcher, artist, writer, keynote speaker, and advocate for youth and gender minorities in STEAM. This newsletter is a means for me to keep track of my personal & professional growth, and to share all the good stuff I’m working on! First-timers: it’s great to meet you, I’m so glad you’re here! For my regular hardly-knowers, here’s your promised, extra special greeting: welcome again you cute plant, seeing you again is like downing a cool fruity drink in the summer—refreshing as hell.

If you too want an extra greeting, you better subscribe:

As a heads up, I publish newsletters on each MONTH/MONTH, i.e. 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, … , 12/12. Is it the most efficient system? Frankly, no. But is it the most funky fresh? Absolutely it is.

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Happy Pride Month, Hardly-Knowers! This last month has mostly been a blur of APs and final exams to wrap up the school year, so this should be short and sweet (like me). Let’s get right into it!

Explore 2500 years of history at the Parthenon!

I had such a great time hosting this Flipgrid Live Event with Nashville Parthenon - the world’s only exact-size and detail replica of the original temple in Athens, Greece! I got to chat with Katie Petrole, the Director of Education at the Parthenon, who animatedly talked about ancient Greece, its architecture, and some incredible tales of Greek mythology.

If you missed it, you can catch the event here!

Exploring Space with Intrepid Museum

I also got to host another live event with Jonathan from the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum - an American military and maritime history museum in New York City! We learned about the Mercury-Atlas 7 and Gemini III missions that occurred during the Space Race, including Intrepid's role as the primary recovery vessel for both NASA missions. 

You can watch it here!

Hosting a Roundtable at Collision

I’m incredibly grateful to share that I’ll be speaking at Collision Conference’s Corporate Innovation Summit, an invite-only event of 250 innovation leaders from the world’s largest organizations. Through intimate roundtable discussions, interactive masterclasses, and networking sessions, CIS aims to answer questions that keep heads of innovation and the C-suites of corporates up at night.

I’ll be hosting a roundtable on “Integrating Gen Z’s culture to create the future of work and products.”

Every generation has its own values as consumers and creators, and the globalization of Gen Z culture is one that has never been seen before. How can companies keep up with this emerging generation and predict future trends that appeal to Gen Z in the age of social media? Companies will need to figure out how to adapt quickly to be at the forefront of the future of work, innovation, and creation for Gen Z.

Not only am I excited to hear straight from the people operating at the forefront of 21st-century enterprise, I can’t wait to meet the amazing friends I’ve made at The Knowledge Society (TKS) this year, especially (some of) my moonshot squad, Rachel, Graeme, and Tobias, and my wonderful directors, Ian and Damian, who I have to thank for this incredible opportunity. We’ll all be bunking in a huge AirBnB, which will be so fun (I’m especially looking forward to the game of mafia). See y’all in Toronto!

Synthis Update

Speaking of my moonshot squad, these past few months I’ve been part of a team working on a biodegradable, self-growing bacterial solar panel that is five times more efficient than current standard solar panel.

Like I mentioned in my last newsletter, we got to present our idea to three insanely knowledgeable judges in tech and innovation:  Fuad Ali, Fareena Contractor, and Noel Hurst. Super happy to announce that Synthis was named the top moonshot team by the judges (and got the Google X award for its 10x impact)!!! As a reward, our team will get to meet with someone from General Motors' innovation team, which is so exciting.

To learn more about how this truly renewable source of energy can sustain our future, you can check out our website synthis.co, and our article, 90-second video, and one-pager explaining the details behind Synthis!

TKS End-of-Year Showcase :’)

This past weekend, we had our showcase at TKS, where we talked about all the cool things we’ve been working on this year. I got to be on a panel to talk about my experience working alongside Walmart Canada’s Blue Labs, which focuses on innovation for the future of retail.

This showcase marked the end of my first year at TKS - while I’m sad I’ll no longer get to see this beautiful group of people every week, I’m so thankful for all I’ve learned and in the past year from my directors (once again, Ian and Damian) and the amazing people around me. And I can’t wait to see some of them later in the second-year program, Activate!

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The Fun, the Fresh, & the Funky

To celebrate the end of exam season, I had a reunion with the elementary school squad! We all went to the same afterschool and did math competitions together for years, so it was really nice to see everyone again. <3

Cue the photo comparison!

I also went to Texas for 10 days for my baby cousin’s 1st birthday bash!! He is the cutest baby in the world and I loved spending time with him and my grandpa.

Here’s some other members of the fam (my mom and two cousins)!

To wrap up this section, I wanted to share the fun-nest, freshest, and funkiest thing from this month: one of my closest friends, Rachel, ran a MARATHON (Tartan Ottawa International Marathon) and she was the youngest runner! A whole 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometers) in literally 3hr 38min 52sec - she’s absolutely incredible and INSANE, I’m so proud of her.

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Coming up next on Keeping Up With (K)Apoorva...

• Speaking at Collision Conference in Toronto

• Speaking at AERO Conference in June

  I’ll be talking about how youth can leverage online platforms to explore their interests, grow, and start businesses. The AERO conference is the only one that brings together all who are interested in learner-directed, learner-centered education. This is a multigenerational, virtual, global conference that will feature networking, youth-led presentations, workshops, keynotes, and more.

• Diversity in Action Magazine Feature

  I’m so excited to be doing an interview later this month with the Diversity in Action magazine to be a story for their September/October issue. Their mission is to raise awareness and help to promote diversity, inclusion and equity, particularly in STEAM fields. The digital/print publication, mobile-friendly website, and social media following reach more than 250,000 diverse students and professionals.

• Interview with WiResearch

  Later this week, I’ll be doing an interview about my research with Diya, the COO of WiResearch, for their segment that features accomplished women researchers around the world. WiResearch is a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating scientific research advancement in female and non-binary students.

• Digital Short with the award-winning science documentary series NOVA (details to be shared soon!)

• Applied math project at RSI!

  I literally cannot wait to spend 6 amazing weeks of research at RSI (Research Science Institute) with 80 other kids from around the world. I’m so excited to work on my project (which will be with a mentor from the MIT math department), details TBD!

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And that’s a wrap, friends! Can’t wait to see y’all again in July to update you on the exciting things that are coming.

Sincerely,

Her (Apoorva)

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Feel free to contact me about speaker events, comments, and anything else at apoorvapanidapu@gmail.com! You can also connect with me on LinkedIn, follow me on Medium, and check out my art gallery, personal website, or Instagram.

Now that you are ready to delete “hardly” from Letter? I Hardly Know Her!, I would greatly appreciate you sharing this so that my publication name doesn’t become irrelevant & obsolete! <3