Rami's Universe

TreeHacks 2025

7 min read

IDEAS fund application

Please provide a brief description/overview of the proposed activity. Approx. 200 words

  • TreeHacks 2025 is a premier hackathon hosted by Stanford University, bringing together thousands of students from around the world to create impactful, innovative solutions to real-world problems. Over the span of 36 hours, Iā€™ll have the opportunity to work in teams, learn from mentors, and build connections with industry professionals and other driven students. The event attracts leading tech companies and startups from the valley and all around the world, giving participants a chance to network, learn about career opportunities, and attend workshops on cutting-edge topics like AI, sustainability, and more.

How does this activity further your personal and/or professional goals in your discipline and/or area of interest? Approx. 300 words

  • The event will be taking place during the weekend before reading week (Feb 14-16). I plan on going there on the 14th and spending a few days after the hackathon since itā€™s reading week anyways. I plan to hangout with students in there to gain an understanding on how it feels to live in there. In addition to that, Iā€™m looking to rizz some company up so I can hopefully get an interview/internship with them. So I will be talking to/impressing them during the hackathon. I would then ask them if it would be possible for me to visit their workplace, and maybe conduct an in-person interview in there.
  • For me, TreeHacks would be a chance to apply and expand my technical and entrepreneurial skills in a challenging, fast-paced environment. By working with others, Iā€™ll develop collaborative skills crucial for real-world engineering and entrepreneurship. The exposure to such an environment would be transformative, not only for my technical growth but also for my career as I look forward to learning from top mentors and recruiters. With the support of the IDEAS fund, Iā€™d be able to represent our school(with my UCalgary hoodie šŸ˜Ž) and bring back new skills, ideas, and connections that could greatly benefit my future and the universityā€™s reputation of having smart, entrepreneurial-minded students winning hackathons all the way out in Stanford.
  • Just last week, went to Calhacks 11.0 hosted by UC Berkeley where my team and I won 2nd place. Felt extremely proud and honoured to represent my university there. Unfortunately, I was the only UCalgary student who participated. It was somewhat sad to see because I met several UWaterloo, UofT, and UBC students. Despite the odds stacked against me, I still managed to win one for UCalgary šŸ˜¤

How will your participation in this activity aid in your development as a scientist and/or leader? Approx. 300 words

  • As an international student looking to find the best place to live in given my future plans of becoming a founder. Iā€™m always on the lookout for hackathons in cities that Iā€™d like to visit/live in. Just last month I went to SF for calhacks where I also got to meet UC Berkeley students and get the vibe of living in there(stayed there for 3 days after the hackathon weekend)
  • not gonna lie, I felt like I belonged there more than in my current university(UCalgary). Loved being around ambitious people. After that trip, SF has become one of my to candidates to move to after graduating and starting my own company. Surpassing Dubai and Toronto.
  • so Iā€™m excited to see if Stanford/Palo Alto is just as good or a better place for me. It really all depends on the people and if theyā€™re the kind of people who would make me a better person or drag me down
  • another thing that Iā€™m looking forward to is to find other random ambitious people who also get excited about things and topics that I am interested in, and from there we would brainstorm together to discover a gap in the world that needs to be filled by a startup/business/product/service.
  • unless there is someone who is better suited to be a leader, I will be stepping up to lead my team into building something incredible and hopefully win
  • One realization that I had is that we all have situation and place where we perform at the best version of ourselves. Through continuous I noticed that thing for me is when Iā€™m in a position of leading

TreeHacks application

Why do you want to come to TreeHacks 2025?

  • As an international student looking to find the best place to live in given my future plans of becoming a founder. Iā€™m always on the lookout for hackathons in cities that Iā€™d like to visit/live in. Just last month I went to SF for calhacks where I also got to meet UC Berkeley students and get the vibe of living in there(stayed there for 3 days after the hackathon weekend)
  • not gonna lie, I felt like I belonged there more than in my current university(UCalgary). Loved being around ambitious people. After that trip, SF has become one of my to candidates to move to after graduating and starting my own company. Surpassing Dubai and Toronto.
  • so Iā€™m excited to see if Stanford/Palo Alto is just as good or a better place for me. It really all depends on the people and if theyā€™re the kind of people who would make me a better person or drag me down

Whatā€™s something youā€™re excited to work on in the next 10 years? Dream big!

  • kinda related to what I shared in the previous question and what Iā€™ll share in the next question. The businesses that Iā€™m tryna build are primarily focused on improving peopleā€™s social interactions and help empower them make friends and get them closer to each other(not through AI)
  • working on this is something that excites me and I feel a sense of purpose as I work on that.
  • just 4 years ago back in high school I used to suffer with social anxiety and shyness, especially around women. So I am now on a mission to help these people who are at the point where I was just 4 years ago. I want to help them become who they want to be and not let their fears hold them back

Tell us a fun fact about you :)

  • I started doing improv end of last year. Fast forward to now, it has significantly helped me in several aspects of my life including:
    • Trusting myself/confidence in social situations
    • Presentation skills
    • communication skills
  • I advocate for it so much that I had to make a YouTube video for it: https://youtu.be/R6OnGTV2vRs

Give back activity

  • I have a YouTube channel where I share advice that I learned from the unique experiences that I went through. I plan to make YouTube videos sharing advice on that experience. Possibly in a vlog style documenting my journey of meeting cool people and sharing advice that I learned through the experience. This is my channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ramimaalouf
  • My most recent video was taken in UCalgary: https://youtu.be/R6OnGTV2vRs
  • You can also take a look at my presentation that I did at the end of my exchange program where I shared some advice to my fellow exchange program friends based on the things I learned from my entrepreneurship classes I took in there: https://youtu.be/lq2LqPiCSp0
  • Hereā€™s a video of me asking startup founders for some advice: https://youtu.be/rtSxXFBUGcA
  • I see myself doing something like this during my time in Stanford and Silicon Valley

Expenses

Nothing has been purchased yet

Graph View