Mississauga, Ontario teen paid $100,000 to not go to school

It was an offer Mississauga teen Yoonseo Kang couldn't refuse. The 18-year-old high-school graduate was offered $100,000 to not go to school.

So he withdrew his enrollment to the University of Toronto's computer science undergraduate program — and moved to a farm.

Kang's desire to build a better future influenced his decision to move to Missouri's Open Source Ecology (OSE) farm "to become part of a project that encourages everyday people to build their own machines, such as tractors and sawmills," Mississauga.com reports.

"I'd like to be at the place where I feel I could have the most impact to positively influence the world," Kang said of the opportunity.

His decision to ditch post secondary education didn't go over well with his parents. Still, he doesn't regret the decision.

Kang is one of this year's 20 recipients of the $100,000 Thiel Fellowship, a program that encourages bright minds to pursue innovative, entrepreneurial projects outside of a classroom setting.

"Pundits and hand-wringers love to claim that universities are the only path to a successful life. In truth, an inquisitive mind, rigorously applied to a deep-rooted problem can change the world as readily as the plushest academic lab," said Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and the billionaire behind the fellowship.

Every year, Thiel selects 20 "tech visionaries" under the age of 20 and pays them $100,000 over two years to pursue projects while receiving mentorship from the Thiel Foundation's network of investors, scientists and entrepreneurs.

"Yoonseo sees open-source hardware as the key for enabling communities around the world to vastly increase their productive potential and together engage in strategic economic collaboration. To that end, he is working with Open Source Ecology to develop the Global Village Construction Set, the 50 industrial machines that it takes to build a civilization with modern comforts," states the press release about this year's fellowship recipients.

Kang was inspired to volunteer at the farm after hearing a TED Talk by OSE's founder Marcin Jakubowski. Jakubowski is happy to have such a young, passionate mind come aboard:

"Yoonseo's clarity on his desire to create an open source economy is unmatched by anyone I know of. He is a technologist driven by a clear sense of higher purpose," Jakubowski told MAKE.

Another Canadian student also received the $100,000 fellowship. Toronto's Christopher Olah will use his scholarship money "to focus on the use of 3D printers to produce educational aids, rudimentary scientific equipment and other tools," the Toronto Star reports.