Shay Manor, 19
Shay Manor: Code, Quantum, and Fish Food
“Capitol Royale 2019 was the turning point.” Twelve‑year‑old Shay Manor had just finished clobbering together a scrappy music editor. The code was fragile, but the atmosphere—vibrant, caffeinated, and crackling with possibility—caught fire in his imagination. He walked out of that room a confirmed hackathon lifer.
Now a second‑year computer‑science student at Purdue University, Shay funnels that same kinetic buzz into every lane of campus tech life. He solves binary exploits with the Purdue CTF Team and is applying to join the organizing crew for BoilerMake, the very hackathon that supercharged his confidence. “These experiences push me to keep growing both technically and as a teammate,” he says, a mantra that has guided an impressive award trail.
At BoilerMake XII, Shay and friends built an AI proof‑of‑concept so compelling it earned the MLH Best Use of Gen AI prize plus a special award from Caterpillar. The recognition snowballed into a summer AI/ML internship offer at CoreWeave, transforming a weekend sprint into a career door‑opener.
Shay’s appetite for edge‑case challenges keeps him roaming beyond the usual comfort zones. He ranked fourth at MIT’s IQuHACK as a freshman, one of the few undergrads in a mostly graduate field. Curious about unconventional hardware, he once trained a sentiment‑analysis model on a quantum annealer. Accuracy dipped by three percent compared with classical methods, but training time shrank and his understanding of quantum workflows leaped forward. As he explains, “I’m not afraid to attempt bold, unorthodox solutions, even if they’re not the easiest.”
That risk‑friendly mindset sprouted early. A self‑taught Java spree in middle school produced a full Monopoly clone, complete with a bot player that evaluated property values like a tiny desk‑chair mogul. When a Raspberry Pi kit landed in his lap as a prize, Shay and his roommate re‑imagined it as an automatic dorm‑room fish feeder. The contraption still dispenses pellets on schedule, proving reliable engineering can also be amusing.
Shay’s strategic instincts predate code. He earned an official FIDE chess rating at age five, translating the game’s tactical patience into a debugging super‑power years later. Today his favorite stack balances React up front and Flask on the server, giving him just enough structure to iterate quickly on new ideas while keeping things lightweight.
Between classes, machine learning competitions, and late‑night dev sessions, Shay often pauses to answer newcomers’ questions, sharing shortcuts he wishes he had known at twelve. After all, the hacker community turned him from a curious kid into a builder with impact; passing that energy forward feels like the most natural line of code he could write.
From quantum circuits to fish food timers, Shay Manor keeps proving that serious innovation pairs well with playful curiosity and he is only getting started.
Quick Facts
Shay Manor, 19
Shay Manor: Code, Quantum, and Fish Food
“Capitol Royale 2019 was the turning point.” Twelve‑year‑old Shay Manor had just finished clobbering together a scrappy music editor. The code was fragile, but the atmosphere—vibrant, caffeinated, and crackling with possibility—caught fire in his imagination. He walked out of that room a confirmed hackathon lifer.
Now a second‑year computer‑science student at Purdue University, Shay funnels that same kinetic buzz into every lane of campus tech life. He solves binary exploits with the Purdue CTF Team and is applying to join the organizing crew for BoilerMake, the very hackathon that supercharged his confidence. “These experiences push me to keep growing both technically and as a teammate,” he says, a mantra that has guided an impressive award trail.
At BoilerMake XII, Shay and friends built an AI proof‑of‑concept so compelling it earned the MLH Best Use of Gen AI prize plus a special award from Caterpillar. The recognition snowballed into a summer AI/ML internship offer at CoreWeave, transforming a weekend sprint into a career door‑opener.
Shay’s appetite for edge‑case challenges keeps him roaming beyond the usual comfort zones. He ranked fourth at MIT’s IQuHACK as a freshman, one of the few undergrads in a mostly graduate field. Curious about unconventional hardware, he once trained a sentiment‑analysis model on a quantum annealer. Accuracy dipped by three percent compared with classical methods, but training time shrank and his understanding of quantum workflows leaped forward. As he explains, “I’m not afraid to attempt bold, unorthodox solutions, even if they’re not the easiest.”
That risk‑friendly mindset sprouted early. A self‑taught Java spree in middle school produced a full Monopoly clone, complete with a bot player that evaluated property values like a tiny desk‑chair mogul. When a Raspberry Pi kit landed in his lap as a prize, Shay and his roommate re‑imagined it as an automatic dorm‑room fish feeder. The contraption still dispenses pellets on schedule, proving reliable engineering can also be amusing.
Shay’s strategic instincts predate code. He earned an official FIDE chess rating at age five, translating the game’s tactical patience into a debugging super‑power years later. Today his favorite stack balances React up front and Flask on the server, giving him just enough structure to iterate quickly on new ideas while keeping things lightweight.
Between classes, machine learning competitions, and late‑night dev sessions, Shay often pauses to answer newcomers’ questions, sharing shortcuts he wishes he had known at twelve. After all, the hacker community turned him from a curious kid into a builder with impact; passing that energy forward feels like the most natural line of code he could write.
From quantum circuits to fish food timers, Shay Manor keeps proving that serious innovation pairs well with playful curiosity and he is only getting started.
