Summary

I'm interested in living a happy life using technology.

Projects

Atrable (Aug 2021 - present)

A social platform where people can deepen friendships through personal podcasts & vlogs.

For Atrable, I use Flutter, Next.js, and Firebase. I spend half of my time bug fixing, a quarter brainstorming, and the last quarter implementing new features.

Motivation: atrable.com/#motivation

My works: /logs/atrable

Personal Website (Feb 2022 - present)

I developed a personal website to record and organize my journeys.

For the website, I use Gatsby, which is a React framework for generating static websites.

Source code: github.com/Shawn-sudo/shawn-about

Research

Can sharing personal life stories through vlogs effectively reduce online social comparison? (Jun 2023 - present)

On-going research with Dr. Diana Freed and Dr. Yaxing Yao. Trying to figure out a way to design a better social media platform 🤓

DNA Barcoding Project (Sep 2022 - May 2023)

Pranav and I researched the relationship between the pH of streams and the biodiversity of the dwelling moss population nearby. We researched it as a part of the Urban Barcode Project (UBP) in our school's Methodology of Science Research class, with the team name "Watdr". Roll your tongue a little bit at the end to pronounce it correctly.

pH level is important in freshwater ecosystems as it indicates the conditions of how easily nutrients are available and how easily heavy metals can dissolve in the water. Different water bodies have different levels of pH depending on location, temperature, and other factors. Moss is a bioindicator, meaning that it is a naturally occurring indicator of pollution, air quality, and water quality. We wanted to investigate if the difference in pH level would affect the biodiversity of the inhabiting moss. We also wondered if there would be an ideal pH level that allows many different species of moss to inhabit. We hypothesized that biodiversity would peak as the pH level of surrounding water gets closer to 7.

We first went to different water streams in our town and collected water and moss samples. Then, we went to the Harlem DNA Learning Center and analyzed the biodiversity of the collected moss. We plotted out the relationship between pH rate and moss diversity and figured out that moss thrives in an environment with a pH of 7.5

One unsatisfying part: For our results to be more accurate and widely applicable, we had to collect more samples. We conducted the research during the busiest time of the year, and we were too busy to collect more samples :/

Details: dnabarcoding101.org/symposium/details/3870

Our poster: dnabarcoding101.org/files/uploads/0000/ubp/...

What is the relationship between the pandemic and depression? (Mar 2021)

As a middle school graduation project, I researched the relationship between the pandemic and depression. I learned that depression is more prevalent than I thought, mainly due to the COVID pandemic.

For the project, I made a simple depression test based on PHQ-9 using HTML5, CSS, and Javascript (https://shawn-school.web.app).

Later on (around mid-2022), I noticed that the depression rate didn't rapidly decrease even though the pandemic was nearly over. I realized that the pandemic was just an indirect cause of the increased depression rate; the direct cause was increased usage of social media, where people often promote unrealistic images of themselves and get exhausted from endless entertainment. I wanted to make a better place for people to record and share their life stories, so I brought many shifts to Atrable at that time. For example, I implemented the audio diary feature to encourage people to focus on the story rather than the appearance of their friends.

Academic Achievements

AIME - Qualified (2021 Fall & 2022 & 2023)

I qualified for AIME 3 times! I scored in the top 2.5% on AMC 10 and the top 5% on AMC 12.

Bergen County Math League (BCML) - First Place in Group 3 (2021-2022 & 2022-2023 & 2023-2024)

After participating in the competition in the school math club, I got first place in BCML Group 3 three times.

BCML Group 3 includes Bergenfield High School, Dumont High School, New Milford High School, River Dell High School, and Tenafly High School.

PSAT - 99th percentile (Oct 2022)

I thought my English was bad. I guess I improved over time 👍

Highest Honor Roll (2021 - 2022 & 2022 - 2023)

I don't know the specific cutoffs, but it says it's based on the cumulative GPA.

Awards & Recognitions

Scholastic Awards - Honorable Mentions (2024)

I received honorable mentions for my poem "Cotton Candy" and my short film "Popcorn Brain."

Congressional App Challenge - 3rd Place in NJ09 (2022)

I received recognition from Congress :0

I thought my project would place me in a higher place though. I guess I should've articulated specifically how Atrable can reduce mental health issues induced by social media. I only explained the features of the app without connecting those back to the vision. Uh oh.

They sent me an email about the RISE program, so I tried it out in the following spring.

RISE - Global Top 500 Finalist (2023)

I'm one of the global top 500 finalists! I've heard that only 1% of the applicants are chosen to be top 500 finalists and 0.2% to be top 100 scholarship winners.

I'm not one of the top 100 winners though :/ I think I made a similar mistake again! In the presentation, I spent most of my time thoroughly explaining the mental health epidemic caused by current social media platforms, so I didn't have much time left to explain specifically how my app can fix the mental health issues of social media. Uh oh.

Next time, no more mistakes!!

For the following summer, RISE provided the finalists with core programs including Run the Future. I improved my presentation skills there.

Run the Future (Summer 2023)

Run the Future taught me the basics of entrepreneurship. Around 30 of the RISE finalists joined it, and we met on Zoom calls every Monday and Wednesday morning. I met many like-minded friends from all around the world, including Ukraine, India, Kazakhstan, and Turkey. It was really exciting to talk with them about several current issues—including mental health issues of social media—of the world.

One thing I especially liked about this program was the supportive and engaging community. Teachers like Hassan and Godwin had a special formula to keep a positive vibe 😎. They strongly encouraged us to come up with our ideas and give feedback to each other, with the mindset of "Whatever idea you've got, it'll work out if you don't give up!" I could feel a strong sense of community even though we didn't even meet in person. It was magical.

Towards the end of the course, we all made a pitch deck for our business plan. I made one for Atrable too: Atrable Pitch Deck

I made many nice friends there. Now that the summer ended, however, I lost touch with them. I have their WhatsApp, but we don't have things to talk about. I guess in the future, Atrable can come into play in such situations by making it easier to share daily life stories with friends through personal vlogs 😼.

Other Activities

Oklahoma! (Spring 2023)

I participated in our school's production of the musical Oklahoma!

My reflections: /logs/oklahoma-musical

Vlogging on YouTube

When I'm free, I edit videos that I filmed in the past and post them on YouTube. It's fun.

When I want to share some personal recordings with my friends, but don't want to make them public, I use Atrable instead of YouTube. You should try Atrable too lol.

My channel: youtube.com/@seihyun

Occasional Contribution to Open Source Projects

Go to my GitHub, scroll down a bit, and press the "Show more activity" button until you see something.

School Clubs

Busking Club (Jun 2023 - present): Founder & President

I founded this club with Ian!

We go anywhere in our school and perform music during lunchtime 🎤.

Studying in school as a student, teaching and grading students as a teacher, and keeping our school clean as a custodian can be exhausting sometimes. We hope that our friends will get positive vibes in their daily lives through our music!

Read more: /logs/busking-club

Math Club (Sep 2021 - present): Secretary & Treasurer

Every week, we participate in math competitions, such as NJML, BCML, and AMC.

2023-2024

With Alon leading us as the president, math club became more fun!

I'm a secretary / treasurer along with Heeseo.

In PUMaC (Princeton University Mathematics Competition), we became a semi-finalist in the mini math bowl event as a team (with Alon, Daniel, and Justin).

My friend David wrote an article about our experiences at PUMaC! You can read it here

2022-2023

I won the exact same award & qualification as last year.

I was a treasurer along with Justin.

2021-2022

I won first place in BCML Group 3 & qualified for AIME after taking AMC 10!

Chemistry Club (Sep 2021 - present)

2022-2023

NJCO was done in person this time! Eric and I made a molecule model for R-(+)-menthofuran (part of peppermint) (CAS No. 17957-94-7).

2021-2022

I learned about interesting chemical reactions by listening to others' presentations. I also made a presentation about how water dissolves ions and polar molecules with its exceptionally high electronegativity.

As a team, Andy, Ethan, and I made a website to explain the Flint water crisis to compete in NJCO (NJ Chemistry Olympics) (https://github.com/Shawn-sudo/nj-chem-olympics-2022).

Tutoring Club (Sep 2022 - present)

We meet every Tuesday afternoon and help kids with their homework and schoolwork. I help kids with math and coding. I learned that it's not easy to explain mathematical concepts to others, even though I've known those concepts for years. I guess "just knowing" and "being able to teach" are really different.

The Echo (Sep 2022 - present)

The Echo is our school newspaper. Writing articles helps me foster my English writing skills 👍

To see my articles, go to thetenaflyecho.com/staff_name/seihyun-shawn-lee

Korean Culture Club (Mar 2023 - present)

We meet every Tuesday lunch.

I joined the club to sing in our school's Lunar New Year celebration, which is held at the library and broadcasted around the school for a whole day.

International Student Advisory Board (Dec 2022 - Mar 2023)

We went to Tenafly Middle School's ELL class every Thursday and helped ELL students adapt to American culture. Because I came to America just recently, I could relate with and help the students pretty well.

Volunteers

Tutoring Club

Check the explanation above ↑

International Student Advisory Board

Check the explanation above ↑

Scratch Coding Class (Dec 2022 - Jan 2023)

I taught the fun of coding with Scratch coding. I made students come up with their own Scratch game ideas and we implemented it together.

Read more: /logs/scratch-coding-class-dec-2022

Church Volunteer (Sep 2022 - present)

I help children to focus on worship and get closer to the stories in the Bible.