My path through extracurricular activities began with me participating in my school's annual marathon (2018). "Ready, steady, on your mark, get set, GO!" - I think that while the P.E coach said this phrase particularly for the annual marathon, I applied it to my life from thereon. Securing a bronze medal for my third position in that marathon made me realise that I could excel beyond academics. Later on, in the same year, I ended up getting a certificate of appreciation in annual speech competition. During my A-levels, I was made the Poetry Head and held the responsibility of organising a poetry competition, Glitz Gala. I was also an active participant of the science and environmental welfare based societies at my college called 'Scientia' and 'Society for Environment'. These societies required me to organise and participate in various competitions which taught me lessons in responsibility.
These experiences of stepping outside my academic comfort zone broadened my perspective and I developed greater desire to contribute towards humanitarian oriented causes. Although I had the chance to volunteer at several places, for example, I volunteered at a Slum School (a non-profit organization empowering child laborers and underprivileged youth living in slums with Information and Technology) for four months from June 2019 to September 2019 and I completed a 6 week internship at SOS children's village (orphanage), my experience at Eliya Care Home was the most noteworthy to me.
Differently abled people in Pakistan are often seen as pariahs of society. They are excluded from many educational and social opportunities that others participate in. People rarely invest their money or time in the welfare of children with intellectual disabilities. Seeing these disparities, from January to June 2019, I volunteered at Eliya Care Home in Faisalabad. This is a non-profit organisation that provides education and medical rehabilitation to adults and children with special needs. I worked alongside other volunteers to support instructors in delivering diverse therapeutic programmes, including wheelchair training, physical therapy, and creative art sessions for children with disabilities. Working with children diagnosed with autism, cerebral palsy, and various physical disabilities enhanced my communication skills, as I had to rely on body language and gestures when verbal communication didn't suffice. The hours I spent there instilled in me a deeper appreciation for the resilience of these children and their families, and it shifted my perspective on challenges.
Building on this experience of working in meaningful environments, after my A levels, in 2020 I completed a foundational level SEO internship at Maxenius Solutions Faisalabad. This role introduced me to not only digital marketing and search engine optimisation but also sparked my interest in Python. Since Maxenius Solutions was a software house and had a lot of developers and programmers, I had the opportunity to connect with them and was able to stay in touch with some of them even after my internship had concluded. These colleagues were kind enough to recommend me the 'Introduction to Python' course on Coursera which taught me the basics including variables, data types, and functions.
Later, in order to contribute to my household expenses during financial hardships, I undertook an internship at Nakheel Oman Development Company, which is deemed one of the largest date palm producers in the world. My role at this company was as a sales coordinator for one year, in which I was tasked with assisting in inventory management and identifying potential customers, which helped increase the company's sales. My work often involved coordinating between the sales and inventory teams, which made me more collaborative.
Experiences play the most important role in brain's neuroplasticity; that's the brain's way of changing and adapting. The brain has the unique ability to change its structure by forming synapses which are formed through lived experiences. Volunteering, internships, marathons may have ended but the lessons I learned from participating in these extracurricular activities are forever embedded in my brain, they have shaped my identity and helped me grow as an individual.