My Internship Experience With MakerBay Foundation

My name is Amaanat Rekhi, and I am a Year 11 student at South Island School. During my summer holidays, I took up a one month internship at MakerBay Foundation. My supervisor was Mr. Anders Gammelgaard-Larsen, a Senior AI Instructor at MakerBay, who made my internship an incredibly valuable and fruitful experience through encouraging both my personal and professional development.

My job scope included revising, improving and finally conducting the Jockey Club Artificial Intelligence (AI) Community Innovation Programme. Funded by the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, this programme brings together participants from schools, communities and the industry to solve real-world problems with AI and develop mobile apps. I improved, expanded and made the AI quiz activity more current, researched real-life applications of AI in solving world problems and improved the examples of machine learning datasets. Additionally, I reached out to schools and NGOs to develop relationships and further expand MakerBay’s services. I ended my internship by holding an AI workshop for the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong on 18th August from 1:00 – 5:30 pm where I taught the students about algorithms, AI and machine learning, including how to train an ML model using Teachable Machine, how AI can be used to create apps to solve world problems and how to code using PictoBlox.

Working in such a dynamic and fast-paced environment, I was given the opportunity to seize every moment to absorb and learn from the MakerBay team. I will admit, I was somewhat surprised by the independence I was offered during this internship. With the support, guidance and encouragement from Mr. Anders Gammelgaard-Larsen, I was given the freedom and responsibility to pursue my own impact innovation project to make a difference in the community. I decided to focus my project on plastic waste as despite it being a major pollutant, only 9% of plastic waste is recycled in the world. Using the machinery and tools available to me at MakerBay, I proposed the idea of converting plastic waste into useful products with the aim to donate them back to the community for public use. This was done through a process involving collecting, sorting, shredding and extrusion. After sorting the plastic based on its type and colour, I used the Shredder Machine to cut it into smaller flakes that could be easily melted and then put them through the Injection Machine to melt the plastic flakes into different moulds.

I am extremely grateful for the constant support, advice and encouragement from Mr. Anders Gammelgaard-Larsen and Mr. Cyron Chan, the Executive Director at MakerBay. The one thing that was the most memorable during my time at MakerBay was how the whole team made every effort to assist me in my endeavours. Mr. Anders Gammelgaard-Larsen was extremely kind and supportive and even went out of his way to take me to The Ocean Material Recycling Workshop at The Mills, so that I could find out more about current sustainability projects.

I am extremely thankful for the opportunities that MakerBay Foundation has provided me with as this has truly been an enriching experience for me. I have thoroughly enjoyed learning from Mr. Anders Gammelgaard-Larsen and am very grateful to him for not only helping me develop my technical knowledge, but also gain valuable hands-on experience and practical skills. At MakerBay, interns are treated just like working professionals and get assigned meaningful tasks which are crucial and beneficial to the organisation. There is a huge emphasis placed on growth and development and a supportive work environment with colleagues who are friendly and approachable. I am immensely grateful for this opportunity and have enjoyed every moment of my time with MakerBay Foundation.

Editor note: Amaanat Rekhi volunteered as intern from 11 July 2022 – 10 August 2022. She supported development and execution of the Jockey Club AI Community Innovation Programme. If you are interested in our volunteer program, please send your profile and motivation to [email protected]

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