Stanford, Summits, Reunions, and Skating

Letter? I Hardly Know Her! - May 2023

Welcome, WELCOME to Letter? I Hardly Know Her! I’m Apoorva (the her in question), an 18 y/o researcher, keynote speaker, artist, writer, 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 you California poppy—seeing you is the extra sunshine in my day!

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, happy May, Hardly-Knowers! What a joyous month it's been. (To be completely honest, this short newsletter will mostly be pictures of the good times of April.) Onwards!

Committed to Stanford!

After going to Stanford and Harvard’s visiting weekends, a week spent agonizing and acting like a pendulum, and an ungodly number of pros and cons lists, I finally officially committed to…STANFORD!!!

I'm so so excited to be part of its Class of 2027 - I can't wait learn from all Stanford has to offer and be inspired by the wonderful people around me.

Why Stanford? Good question! I had a several lines of thought: academics, location, people, clubs, research, personal growth, day-to-day, etc. While I was a bit uncertain about staying in California (as someone who has lived in the Bay Area my whole life), the academics, people, and invigorating spirit of Stanford drew me in. My hosts at admit weekend were incredibly kind and thoughtful and so many of the people I talked to there are so genuinely passionate about what they do and care deeply about exploring, understanding, and helping the world. Also, I currently plan on studying CS + Policy - everyone knows Stanford CS is out of this world but (as I recently learned) their public policy/political science major is also right up there as one of the best in the world. After all my conversations with students, existential walks, and heart-to-hearts with family and friends, Stanford seemed like the perfect path forward.

As always, I can’t express how grateful I am for my family, friends, mentors, and teachers who have taught me so much about myself and the world—I wouldn’t be here without them.

But also, here are some highlights from Harvard’s admit weekend (“Visitas”)!

I got to meet THE David Malan from Harvard’s famous CS50 (which I absolutely love). It was definitely a fangirl moment for me, he’s so cool!! (He also gave a mini lecture alongside some other amazing professors in the “Big Think” session.)

I was reunited with my Genius Junior teammate, Sebastian! We randomly bumped into each other at the Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream event in the physics building, and we basically lost our minds over the coincidence. Since we were 12 when we met on the show, we didn’t really have a way to stay in contact, so this was the first time in 6 years we’ve gotten the chance to speak again!

Okay, let’s move on for now (but I couldn’t resist putting more pictures from the visiting weekends in the Fun, Funky, Fresh section).

Speaker at the STEM is the Way Summit

This past month, I had the chance to speak with the amazing Tiffani Teachey at her STEM is the Way Summit! We had such an engaging conversation about how to make math accessible to all learners, addressing gender bias in early STEM education, challenges Gen Z faces right now, and more. Feel free to check out the website to see some of the interviews!

!! ARTWORK ALERT !!

Self portrait finished! Painting yourself is a weird balance of perspectives, staying objective as an artist while translating personal style to brush style. It's interesting to unlearn what you think you look like in order to paint what you actually see (and it's fun)!

This particular portrait was partially inspired by the expressive works of Austrian expressionist Egon Schiele.

I also started this new painting! This one is a master copy/study of a painting by Kai Samuels-Davis, who is one of my favorite painters right now. (Highly recommend checking him out!) I’m excited to start layering the painting with the cool colors he uses.

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The Fun, the Fresh, & the Funky

THE FFF HARVEST WAS BOUNTIFUL THIS MONTH! This is basically a photo dump.

First up, visiting weekends!

Here we are at Harvard’s Loomis Observatory deck - such a beautiful view with beautiful people. <3

Reunited with my dear Mathcamp friends at MIT (I can’t believe it’s been 5 years since we met in 2018, time is a crazy thing). I made them eat at my favorite pizza place, and they indulged me <3 even though they are Not fans.

RSI reunion in Annenberg, Harvard’s stunning dining hall for freshman!

Ready for Stanford with my friend who stayed with me between weekends and got the FULL San Jose tour. <3

ANOTHER RSI reunion at Stanford (across multiple years)!

Okay, enough of the weekends. But still more FFF!

Here I am with my sister at the amazing, talented, spectacular Sabrina Carpenter concert. <3

We actually celebrated my sister’s 20th birthday this past week, which is crazy!! (How is she so old? Wait…does that mean I’m old?)

Reading has been a bit slow this month what with all the traveling, but I recently finished Shelley Parker-Chan’s She Who Became the Sun, which I absolutely loved. Such an immersive piece of fiction and beautiful exploration of the idea of destiny, war, fortitude, and gender identity & desire. Highly recommend it! It’s a page-turner.

(To top this section off, here’s a little bonus because I’m a day late - I just started learning how to skate! I’m pretty bad right now, but it’s a fun process. :-) If you know how to skate and have tips, please send them my way. <3)

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

What’s in store for the next month? Well, other than finals…

• In-Person GLAM Event with Chase!

  Team GLAM is super excited to have our first in-person event coming up in May! We’re partnering with Chase Bank to host this two-day event in Oakland, and it’s going to be so much fun. The prep has begun!

• Training for 2023 Ottawa Marathon

  After finishing my half-marathon in February, I’m now training for a full marathon at the end of May! I’ll be running the Tartan Ottawa Marathon with one of my best friends, Rachel, and I cannot wait. (It’s fast approaching…3 weeks!)

• BOLD MINDS Conference in Vienna

  I’ll be going to Vienna in June to speak at the BOLD Minds conference about the future of work for Gen Z and the challenges we’re currently facing. I’m so excited to have been invited (huge thank you to the wonderful Trailblazers group I met at Collision last year), it’s going to be a good time!

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A Quarter for Your Quote?

“Knowledge rests not upon truth alone, but upon error also.”

Carl Jung

And that’s it from me! It’s crazy how the past month will change the next 4 years (and the rest) of my life, but what a time it’s been. I’ll see you again soon (and you’ll hopefully be talking to a marathoner next time). Wishing you the happiest May, Hardly-Knowers!

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.

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