I’m Shihab Foysal

This fascination naturally extended to everything I touched. No toy lasted more than a week before I had taken it apart, curious about how each component worked and how it might be transformed into something new. When I got my first bicycle, I refused help, determined to master it on my own through trial and error. Observing, dismantling, and understanding became more than hobbies; they became the way I learned. Gradually, my family noticed. They began asking me for help with broken gadgets or tricky phone settings, and the nickname “little engineer” quietly followed.

The pandemic offered an unexpected gift: time, and a digital world to explore. By eighth grade, I had taught myself the fundamentals of robotics, programming, and web development. Learning these skills wasn’t just an intellectual exercise; it felt like crafting the tools I would need to solve larger problems. Challenges that might have seemed frustrating to others became invitations to build. When I noticed my friends’ fading interest in local history, I sketched out an event—the “Home Town Olympiad”—to make it more engaging. When book prices limited access to knowledge, I built a sharing system to ensure learning remained collaborative. These weren’t projects for recognition; they were simply ways to make things work better.

My academic interests grew from the same impulse. Physics and mathematics fascinate me not for their difficulty, but for the puzzles they offer—the chance to approach problems from different angles until the most elegant solution emerges. I analyze textbook questions the same way I once examined construction plans or toys: by observing patterns, breaking down components, and reconstructing ideas in ways that make sense. This approach has allowed me not only to deepen my own understanding but to help friends navigate challenges in their studies.

I do not claim to be able to solve every problem I encounter. What I have realized, though, is a persistent mentality: noticing inefficiencies, asking how they might be improved, and exploring solutions with curiosity and care. The small systems I have built—whether sharing books, organizing events, or writing lines of code—are all steps toward a larger ambition: using technology to meet human needs.

Ultimately, my journey has been about more than building things. It has been about understanding systems, discovering patterns, and quietly shaping solutions in ways that can matter to others. The fascination that began with a construction site, with toys, and with a stubborn bicycle has evolved into a clearer purpose: to forge a career at the intersection of technology and human need, creating tools that help people, communities, and society thrive. In every problem I encounter, I see an opportunity to build—not only objects or systems, but a life defined by curiosity, creativity, and meaningful impact.