Top Five! Hamza Atiq Shaik from Universal American School in UAE

Throughout the five-week forum competition, everyone had the opportunity to earn points by conducting individual research, writing opinions, raising questions, and responding to counter-arguments. Through these activities, our scorer observed the critical thinking and academic writing abilities of each participant.

All forum participants also had the opportunity to initiate or participate in group meetings to earn meet-up points. This process challenges the students to exercise their executive management abilities, from scheduling to interpersonal communication to teamwork collaboration. This is the foundation of how we can build confidence.

Through the above processes, we were able to identify the Top Five Finishers who set the bar for forum participants. Today we would like to shine the spotlight on Hamza Atiq Shaik from Universal American School in UAE. Not only is he humble and smart, he also helped his team "Smells Like Teen Spirit" reach the Top Five. Here is Hamza's reflection on what he has learned about himself and the world around us:

"Reflecting back to the areas I wanted to work on when I started this journey, I believe that my greatest weakness was a limitation of my potential; as an introvert, I was anxious when I first dipped my feet into the sea of personal input on the areas that I wanted to work on. However, towards the end, not only was I able to free myself from the shackles of low self confidence, but also managed to raise awareness for one of the best causes in this world. The takeaway is that everyone of us who has contributed in this forum got to learn something new at the end of the day; I learned that culture plays an integral role in every country around the world and its correlation with mental health. I am happy with my performance, the only improvement I would suggest to myself would be to make more new friends along the way."

Click here to see Hamza's video speech.

What can you find out about yourself and the world around you? What do you plan to do about it? Join us for the next challenge - The Best ROI for Humankind: Women and the Economy.