I grew up in İzmir, a city by the Aegean Sea that has always felt like a place where curiosity is welcome. From an early age I was drawn to how things work — not just accepting that they do, but understanding why. That instinct led me to BİLSEM, İzmir's gifted education program, where I spent three years exploring science, mathematics, and creative problem-solving alongside students who shared the same restlessness.

In middle school I started competing in math olympiads and science competitions. I finished 8th in Turkey at the International Mathematical Kangaroo, won medals at the İzmir Science Olympics in Computer Science, and kept pushing to see how far careful thinking could take me. The answer, I found, was pretty far — in 2026 I placed 1st at my school in the Waterloo Pascal Mathematics Contest, ranking in the top 10 among non-Canadian schools worldwide out of 25,488 participants.

But academics were never the whole picture. In 9th grade I became captain of our school's FIRST LEGO League robotics team, leading a group of six through the UNEARTHED season. When our robot failed its first run at regionals, I learned something that no classroom can teach: how to stay calm, diagnose a problem under pressure, and fix it before the next run. We did.

That same year I traveled to Doha to represent Azerbaijan at THIMUN Qatar, one of the world's most prestigious Model UN conferences. Debating disarmament in the General Assembly's First Committee, I understood that the problems worth solving are never purely technical — they're human. I came home more convinced than ever that diplomacy and technology need each other.

Outside of school I've participated in the SDG Youth Leadership Program, the Annual World Cultural Heritage Youth Symposium, and the YGA Summit. I started judo in January 2026. I write regularly at blog.kuzeykaankoltuk.com. I'm still figuring things out — but I'm doing it on purpose.