Chosen to be there.
Came back changed.
All three were selective — you had to apply, and not everyone got in. Listed from earliest to most recent.
Jabberwocky — Debate & Public Speaking Programme
Jabberwocky is a structured debate and public speaking programme. I attended in Grade 9 — before I had ever spoken in front of a large audience, before Battery Bin, before any of the moments that required me to be articulate under pressure. It taught me the mechanics of argument: how to construct a case, how to rebut without attacking, how to use evidence, and how to think on your feet when the other side says something you didn't prepare for.
The skills from Jabberwocky show up in places I didn't expect: every client conversation for BrandSnap, every time I've had to explain Battery Bin to a teacher or potential partner, and the moment I stood in front of nearly 1,000 students in May 2026 — forgot my script, and decided to just speak. I didn't panic because I already knew how to find the argument when the preparation is gone.
Python & AI Summer Camp — Rancho Labs
An intensive residential summer camp at Rancho Labs focused on Python programming and applied artificial intelligence. First serious exposure to how machine learning models actually work — training data, neural networks, model evaluation — not just as concepts but in practice, writing real code.
The Rancho Labs camp is what made the Pickle.AI internship possible. Going into an AI engineering team without already understanding how models are built would have been a completely different experience. The camp gave me the foundation; the internship showed me what that foundation was actually for. It also sparked the interest in data science that eventually led to my e-waste forecasting research paper.
Plaksha Young Developer Summit (YDS) — Plaksha University
A 7-day offline residential programme at Plaksha University — selective, with students from across India. I stayed on campus, made genuine friendships with people from very different backgrounds, and led my group through collaborative engineering challenges across the week.
The YDS wasn't primarily about what we built — it was about how we worked together under time pressure with people we'd just met. I had to lead a group of strangers toward a shared goal in a few days. That experience taught me how to listen to people you don't know yet, how to earn trust quickly, and how to keep a team moving when things aren't going to plan.