Eliya Amro

Eliya is a Computer Engineering student pursuing a bachelor's degree at Istanbul Technical University. He was born to a Polish and Lebanese father and a Tanzanian mother from Tunduru, Ruvuma, and takes real pride in his mixed heritage and the privilege of coming from cultures so different from one another. He grew up speaking English and Swahili. At 16, he was awarded a scholarship to complete his high school education in Istanbul, Turkey, and has called the city home since 2021. He currently lives in Florya, Istanbul.

He finished high school at UFSM AIHL in 2025 with a 1540 SAT score and a 108 TOEFL score, and started his bachelor's the same year on the Türkiye Bursları merit scholarship. During high school, he contributed to the TUBITAK Drone Project, helping assemble mechanical and electrical components into a working drone and running flight simulations. He came into the project with no prior programming or hardware experience and played a small role, but it sparked a passion for technology that has stayed with him ever since, and it's what drives his aspiration to work with innovative hardware components today.

Outside of his coursework, Eliya is passionate about deep-sea research and giant squids. He has trained in kickboxing for four years and in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for about two years, where he holds a brown belt. He has also been drawing since he was young, and has twice won the Toyota Dream Car Art Contest. He is always happy to support fellow students with SAT and TOEFL preparation, scholarship applications, and university or college admissions (more on that in Initiatives).