Joy Su(do)

Iowa House File 658/Senate File 86

I'd done a lot of advocacy leading up to this point (I hosted my first protest in middle school, and I led our freshman student council). I wanted to take student advocacy to the next level. This is legislation that friends and I developed as a position statement, got sponsored by republican and democratic senators, passed subcommittee, passed committee, and brought to debate in the House and Senate.

The work I offer to take on often revolves around a lot of writing and talking. Think pitches, outreach emails, grant proposals, etc. I spent hours crawling the Iowa Legislature website, looking at voting records, and rewriting email templates for each target. This was years before I realized mass emailers exist for a reason.

(Subject lines remain the same, but contents vary wildly.)

Middle School Programs @ Pi515

I joined Pi515 when I was feeling tired of government. Chatting with legislators feels tokenistic after your third day of it. Pi515 was a partner in a mentorship I did with John Deere, shadowing software engineers and developing games in Python. I sent a cold email from the back of my sixth period classroom and begged to be let in.

It worked! I joined when the 2023 middle school initiative was just in its initial planning phase, and helped take it from concepts of a plan to execution. Accessibility for a program like this means maintaining a sufficient student:mentor ratio and providing students with transportation home, which involved calling and coordinating. I developed curriculum and pacing. We launched in 3 underserved middle schools in the DMPS district, teaching ~50 kids block coding for 4 months.

I've done other work with Pi515, proceding to win the Girl's Entrepreneurship Summit and having returned this year to work on the AI Toolkit. Ask me for a reference.

Girls Who Code Student Leadership Council

Another example of a project where writing proposals is a huge part of the gig. I was part of the inaugural Girls Who Code Student Leadership Council, proposing the idea for a pilot mentorship program (connecting career women in computer science with low-income early college students) and helping to draft its proposal.

Campfire RTP

I was the head organizer of Campfire RTP, a game jam for teens in the Research Triangle Park. See our winners:

Sucrates

In a development I did not expect, I now teach AP African American Studies on Youtube.

Unmute! w/ Mental Health Americaa

This was a project I developed from concept to execution. It's in this section because the other one was overflowing. Coordinated 10 performers, got sponsorship from Mental Health America, got a venue at Cabarrus Arts Council. I also helped develop the visual identity of the project, creating all of our marketing materials. Used a lot of halftones in Adobe Illustrator.

Prototype

I attended Prototype, a hardware hackathon in San Jose, and built Stack the Circus with Emma and Ryan. Following the event, I built the official recap website and gallery of winners. Sveltekit.

Clearing the Air

Data analysis project I created and illustrated for Kode With Klossy.

What?

What's going on under here? I have no idea.

Ft. things I can't leak—DM me!

Campfire S'more

A mini game jam I planned in two days. Thanks KL!

Milkyway Merch

Proposed 25+ merch ideas, voted on budget options, and illustrated PCB.

Creative Writing

Fun fact: I lived alone for a year in seventh grade and and studied creative writing at a nearby magnet school. I've kept it up since.

I've won various awards in writing, including:

• Silver keys for poetry and short stories from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
• Nomination from PTA Reflections for cultural commentary essay
• Publication in various magazines, such as ALOCASIA, the lickety~split, the Augment Review, and more

Debate

I used to compete regularly in Lincoln Douglas debate. I'm no longer an active competitor due to financial reasons (debate is expensive if your new public school doesn't fund it), but I teach. During my time as a competitor, I was lucky enough to win various national tournaments, including Apple Valley MinneApple and the Millard West Fred Robertson Invitational.

Mèimei #2

I've been teaching one of my little sisters to draw. She's making amazing progress. It is so time-consuming.

Mèimei #1

I've been teaching my other little sister how to make video games. She's making amazing progress. It is so time-consuming.

Yum

I make incredible cookies. Side effect of having two little sisters & having lived alone for a while. These are banana bread brown butter chocolate chip.

Cattatime Studios

I met Kat Wang and Kaylee Dinh at Parthenon, the world's largest all-girls hackathon. We've been making things together ever since. This includes our original coding virtual pet, Cattatime, a platformer puzzle game named Oh My Gatos, and even a program website in progress?