Yes, I haven't published any articles on my blog for more than a month. Taking advantage of this special day, the first day of 2025, I would like to briefly sort out the unforgettable things I experienced and the knowledge I learned throughout the year of 2024.
After spending the last New Year's Eve in Tianjin, I traveled to Shenzhen, visited companies such as Huawei, and saw a lot of new and vast world. After returning home from Shenzhen, I embarked on the most impressive and influential trip so far: the trip to New Zealand. The trip to New Zealand allowed me to see some of the most shocking natural features since I was a child, and made me more respectful of nature. The trip to New Zealand was also an opportunity for me to relax and experience the colors of the world with my heart.
After returning to Beijing from New Zealand, I organized another classmate from our school to participate in the VEX Over Under season Asian Open Finals. This high-level competition was my first time to participate in a VEX competition, and it opened up a starting point and direction for me on this road. At the same time, I started my scientific research project and studied the properties of the inertia coefficient of Entanglement Witness with a professor at Beihang University.
From February to March, I participated in various activities such as the IMMC competition. Looking back at these activities, one of the most important experiences for me was the Conrad Challenge China Finals. I also made sufficient preparations for this competition in advance, and spent a lot of time preparing and practicing with a student from Shanghai before the competition. At the competition site, I saw various excellent students from all over the country doing various things. I was deeply shocked by this kind of science fair-style activities and admired every student's enthusiasm for their own projects.
Not long after Conrad Challenge, I was pleasantly surprised to receive the award notification for the 2024 WWDC Swift Student Challenge, becoming one of the six middle school students in mainland China who won the award. This was a great encouragement to me and strengthened my belief in making apps. At the same time, I joined the BAID football varsity and played my first game on the school team. In this game, I contributed an assist to keep the result at 2:2, which was acceptable. "BAID's First Varisty Game"
I also participated in some campus activities such as book sharing and group sharing, etc. My scientific research also continued steadily.
In April, I participated in the long-awaited F1 Shanghai Grand Prix, which can be regarded as the realization of a small dream. Also at the same time, I launched my personal website. "F1 China Grand Prix 2024"
In early May, I went to Hong Kong to take the AP exams. I got 5 points in all 4 APs, which gave me a sense of accomplishment. This trip to Hong Kong lasted for nearly a month. I was able to relax and appreciate everything around me. At the same time, I had the opportunity to meet more people and broaden my horizons. During the AP exam period, I was also very happy to win the global gold medal and the top 100 in the world in Physics Bowl. After returning to Beijing, I participated in some school activities and visited some top universities in Beijing again.
In June, I had the opportunity to attend WWDC24 and went to Apple Park to communicate with developers. I was deeply shocked during this trip and it also broadened my social circle to a certain extent. After attending WWDC24, I traveled around San Francisco for about a week and met many different people and things. I am grateful for everything in this world. "WWDC24-1, WWDC24-2"
In July, I participated in the first game of the new season of VEX and won the second place, which was a good start for the new season. At the same time, I once again participated in some friendly matches with the Beijing Academy football team and performed well. "VEX Game Reflection"
After that, I set off to the United States again, but this time I went to the East Coast. In the first half of this East Coast trip, I had an in-depth visit to top universities such as Harvard and MIT and took a 3-week course at MIT, which broadened my horizons again and made many new friends. After the course, I traveled around the eastern United States with my family for about a month, and I was deeply shocked by the various famous schools and natural scenery. "Stepping Stones"
After returning to Beijing from the United States, I took a break and welcomed the start of the new semester. After the start of the semester, thanks to my negotiations and efforts with the principal during the entire vacation, I successfully established the VEX elective course at BAID. The elective course provides a platform for students who like robots in our school to gather together to study and cooperate in competitions to test the results of their efforts.
In two VEX competitions of different levels in October, our VEX school team won several first prizes and two third places, and gradually grew stronger. The number of people in the school team also increased from just me at the beginning to nearly 20 people and combined students from two different campuses. "Setting Sail, A Further Step"
In November, I and several like-minded classmates in school established the Beacon project, a tool to provide convenience for the visually impaired. I hope that in the future this project can gradually grow and gain influence.
At the same time, my scientific research has also made some progress and was successfully published in Physica Scripta.
My school football varsity experience was also getting better. In a friendly match on behalf of the school, BAID won three group matches without losing and advanced to the knockout stage. Looking at my school team career, our school team has not lost a single game that I have played in.
Then in December, we welcomed the extremely difficult VEX National Competition held by Shanghai Jiaotong University. In this competition, I witnessed the enthusiasm of students from all over the country for VEX, and at the same time, I also saw some gaps. The result of this competition was not so ideal, but it can also be regarded as a good learning experience. In December, which was dominated by loss, there were also some bright spots: I scored 120 points in AMC10A, the highest score in AMC10 among BAID students, and qualified for AIME.
Just like that, step by step, 2024 has come to an end. Overall, this year has been a year of both achievement and disappointment. But fortunately, I can feel that I am making continuous progress. This is thanks to the care of all my family, friends, classmates, and teachers. Without them, I would not have achieved anything. I sincerely thank them for their companionship during this year.
Looking forward to 2025, I am not good at nor do I like to "set goals" for myself. I just hope that I can do the things I like well, find the things that I love and pursue in my heart, and constantly learn all new knowledge and always be passionate about knowledge. At the same time, I will try to maintain good relationships with the people around me, observe the things around me carefully, and think more about others.
I wish everyone a happy new year. I am grateful for everything in this world.