Page 31 - English 9 | Summer School Book

Let's Read

Do you like to read inspirational stories? Here is a text about Melisa Tokmak, whose success
story may inspire many young people. Read the text and get information.

A success story of Melisa from Salihli, Manisa BİLSEM to Silicon Valley

"Melisa was not even a year old. She had toy blocks with her. I saw that she had made a cube from them. I
knocked it down, and she did the same thing once again. That's when I realized that there was something
bright with this girl. When she was 3 years old, seeing that we were reading a newspaper, she used to get angry,
asking us why she couldn't read it. Then, somehow, she learned to read by herself. She spoke early and walked
early." says Melisa's mother, Ayşegül Tokmak. Now she is among the executives of a company in Silicon Valley.
"I want all young Turkish people to trust themselves," says Melisa Tokmak, a young and successful computer
engineer who started doing projects when she managed to get into BİLSEM in Manisa, Salihli. While she was
still in secondary school, she became the first in TUBİTAK Türkiye with her project. She also topped in TUBİTAK
Türkiye with her physics project in high school. Then, she was sent to Helsinki to compete and received an THEME-3
award there as well. Her teachers and family were her biggest supporters. She understood the importance
of struggling to survive on her own in a boarding school away from her family. It was difficult, but Melisa
THEME-4
managed to do it.
She applied to summer school in the USA to improve her English. Stanford University Summer School accepted
Melisa on a scholarship. She built airplanes in her robotics camp. When Melisa saw Stanford, at that moment,
she decided that no matter what happened in life, she would come there for college.
She improved her English. She applied to international UWC schools, and when she got accepted, she studied
for the last two years of high school in India. Melisa learned to stand up for herself in life in India. She devoted
herself to mathematics, physics, and theatre. The school admissions day had arrived. Melissa was very excited.
And, at 3:00 a.m., she learned that she had been accepted to Stanford. Maybe, it was the most exciting moment
of her life for Melisa. She spent the best four years of her life at Stanford. She didn't even have a computer until
secondary school. But now, she was a student of computer engineering at Stanford. She had won it by hard
work. Her parents also went to see their daughter's graduation joy. Melisa says this is the proudest moment.
After school, she started working at a social media business as a product manager. She worked hard there,
too, and she rose rapidly. She met the CEO of the company she is working at now. She also liked Melisa's story
very much and offered Melisa a job as her right hand (Chief of Staff). Melisa and her friends have tripled the
size of the company, which is now one of the most important Machine Learning startups in Silicon Valley.
Melisa is still employed there, managing a department. "I have more dreams," says Melisa, whose next step
is to establish her own firm. If it were not for Melisa's belief in work and if her parents and teachers hadn't
supported her, maybe she wouldn't be here. Melisa is a good example of faith, perseverance, and success.

MATEMATİK-11
ORTAÖĞRETİM 31 ENGLISH A2 - A2+
GENEL MÜDÜRLÜĞÜ