November Reflections: From Drones to Hackathons

🚀 Exciting news: I joined TKS Velocity this month, where I’m pushing my limits and learning how to operate at my full potential!

November Reflections: From Drones to Hackathons

This November has been packed with projects, growth, and new experiences. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

🚀 Joining TKS Velocity

I officially joined TKS Velocity, a program designed to help us reach our full potential through consistent reflection, goal-setting, and collaboration. The daily updates and insights from leaders like Esther, Andres, and Patrick have already had a huge impact on how I think about success and self-improvement.

🚁 Progress on My Litter-Picking Drone

One of the highlights this month was completing the autonomous programming for my litter-picking drone! It now flies programmatically using Pydrone kit, Raspberry Pi, and Pixhawk. Watching it take off and follow commands was such a proud moment. This project has been both challenging and rewarding, and I’m excited about its potential impact.

💭 Reflections from TKS Velocity

TKS Velocity has been pushing me to reflect on my actions and goals. Through our daily updates and sessions, I’ve realized how crucial mindset is for success. It’s not just about achieving goals but also understanding why those goals matter to me and aligning them with my values.

👜 Starting a Company with Junior Achievement

Our Junior Achievement (JA) company officially launched this month! We’re selling tote bags to our local community, and I was elected as VP of Finance. Leading a team in this capacity is a first for me, and I’m looking forward to growing through the experience. It’s exciting to build something from the ground up and manage the financial side of a business.

💡 “Success isn’t just about reaching your goals. It’s about understanding why those goals matter and ensuring they align with your values.”

🎤 Career Expo Takeaways

I attended a career expo this month and had some insightful conversations with professionals from different fields. Here are my key takeaways:

  1. Take control of your life — only you can shape your future.
  2. Approach everything with a business mindset.
  3. Be socially intelligent.
  4. Have clear and good intentions behind your actions.

🎉 Hackathon Win: Posture Pal

João and I competed in the Explore Hackathon, and we created Posture Pal — a device that sprays you with water if you have bad posture. We used MediaPipe to track posture and a Raspberry Pi Pico to control the spray mechanism. It was such a fun project, and the best part is... we won! It was an incredible learning experience and a great example of teamwork and creativity.

🌟 Looking Ahead

November has been a month of growth, from programming drones to starting new ventures and reflecting on life. As we head into December, I’m excited to keep this momentum going and tackle even bigger challenges.

Thanks for reading, Malek Hammoud