Chicago, IL — The Porsche 911 engineers knew exactly what their objective was: to make the new 911 the most powerful Porsche on the road. As a result, a young girl from Burbank, Illinois, knew exactly what her life mission was: to buy the luxurious Porsche 911 GT3 RS.
Shay, born Shalyn Barrios, is not your typical teenager. From a young age, Shay exhibited remarkable intelligence and exceptional work ethic. By age 11, she was a video game developer for Roblox. At Reavis High School, she was the robotics club founder, mathlete captain, senior tennis captain, calculus tutor, state runner-up in journalism, 5x high honor roll student (yes, she enrolled in high school a year early), and page editor of the school newspaper.
Shay accomplished all this while maintaining a 3.9 GPA, 6 AP classes, and 2 internships. At the same time, she cared for her mother, who has a physical disability, necessitating help with her prosthetic leg. Shay credits her mother as key inspiration to become an engineer, develop better prosthetic software, and minor in research with computer science.
But before Shay could even step foot into a college lecture hall, the 18-year-old landed an internship at Google and Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) as a Computing I and II Instructor. There, she teaches her students about artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and Python programming.
“I have students from all across the country. It’s amazing,” she tells The Washington Mail. “I recently found out some of my students are from California, Michigan, Wisconsin, I mean, you name it. They were there.
“This will be my fourth internship ever, third internship as an instructor, and my second with DPI and Google. I love it!”
When asked where she learned how to teach, she credited those who taught her.
“I’m happy to say I’ve learned from some wonderful teachers, especially at Reavis. Ms. Klein taught me that there’s always something to smile about. I’d like to think she saw something special in me.
“Ms. Mierzwa’s AP Calculus class taught me the art of change. I learned how to understand change, both positive and negative, and I saw that within my own life. If you’re a linear line, going through the motions with a lack of velocity in life, you’ll find your position in life will remain the same. Like Mr. Krueger’s AP Physics class taught me.”
So, what’s next for this extraordinary 18-year-old?
Shay competing at her first speedcubing competition in 2023, where she solved the 2×2 cube in 9.57 seconds
“I’m on track to become one of the best speedcubers in the state. Currently, I can solve the 3×3 in 16 seconds. I hope that by the end of 2025, I will be the women’s state record holder for the 3×3 blindfolded.
“I also hope to win more hackathons. This year, I placed 2nd at two Google Hackathons—Google’s ‘Hack for Accessibility’ and ‘BreakBeatCode.’ The first one was against college students, and I was a senior in high school at the time. It felt surreal.”
Is there anything this girl can’t do?
This May, Shay found out she was accepted into some of the most prestigious universities in the world. This coming semester, she’s going to have her hand at transferring to an even greater elite. The 18-year-old genius (if you ask me) hopes to transfer to either the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Carnegie Mellon University, or Harvard University.
“If you’re asking about my plans after this interview, I’ll probably be listening to Daft Punk while drinking an Oreo milkshake, thinking about Porsches,” Shay tells The Washington Mail with a big smile.
“In all seriousness, I plan to become a very successful engineer and entrepreneur. I have big dreams, and the more I work, they feel ever so closer.”
Shay described her long-term goals to me: becoming a full-time software engineer at Google, advancing research at Shirley Ryan’s Prosthetic Laboratory, making her family proud, and last but not least, obtaining the true American Dream: the Porsche 911 GT3 RS.
Shay (left) and students at Google Chicago Headquarters for the closing ceremony