(Karthik's full story from transcript)

Hi, I'm Kartik Dharmarajan, TPS class of 2020.

After I graduated from TPS during the beginning of the pandemic, I attended UC Berkeley studying electrical engineering and computer science.

These days, I'm working on my masters at Stanford! During my undergraduate and graduate years, I had the opportunity to dive deep into robotics research, working with a diverse range of robots, ranging from industrial arms and surgical robots to general purpose manipulators. These robots performed all sorts of tasks from efficient box sorting to delicate cup stacking.

In the future, I aim to contribute to making general purpose robots a reality. And, to effectively pursue this goal, I'm applying to PhD programs in AI and robotics this fall.

I owe my passion for robotics to the robotics teams at TPS, which I was a part of for 4 years, where I not only gained invaluable hands-on experience with both real robot hardware and the software required to control it, but also the mental resilience and fortitude required to overcome the countless failures we endured. There are many, many times in my research where I failed or an idea didn't work, but that's just part of the process. Building that resilience early on with '3453 Dembots' and later '14996 Omega Squad' helped me cope with this.

I especially appreciate the wonderful robotics mentors and advisors I had the chance to learn from and interact with, who not only made me a better engineer but also a better leader, including Doctor R, Mr. Choi and several others.

One aspect of the TPS curriculum in upper school, which I now look back fondly upon, is the opportunity to develop poise and eloquence in public presentations throughout each year. From writing multi-page papers and presenting arguments in front of class to providing arguments in senior mock trial, the the rigorous curriculum at TPS built a strong foundation.

Even now, during research presentations, I often receive compliments on my public speaking skills, and I truly attribute that to the extensive practice and thoughtful feedback I received at TPS.

I'd like to shout out to Mr. Rush, Mr. Kay, and Mr. Durran for being an integral part of helping me formulate arguments along with many of the lower school and upper school teachers who had me present in front of class and, and gave me some very useful feedback to help me improve.

Academics are great, but there also needs to be balanced with other factors in your life. One of the aspects of TPS that I miss is the small class sizes, which helped me foster lifelong friendships. To this day, my friend group share memes, jokes, and questions about various topics, regardless of if we're in SoCal, the Bay Area on the east coast or around the world somewhere.

Whenever we find ourselves in town, we'll meet up, catch up on life. It's so important to have peers where you can talk to about random things and have support, and I believe that the conditions at TPS were perfect for that.

Well, I didn't end up continuing this in college. I thought my experiences in junior choir and later chamber singers with Ms. Risling were super fun and insightful.

As we move forward in life, I know there will be many challenges and hurdles coming up, including both engineering problems on my robots and life-related problems.

However, I move forward with confidence as I believe that the fortitude and prudence instilled me during my time at TPS through various activities. Prepares me better to face them.