1st Place, Hack Club Athena: Sunbeam Boston
Built Sepia with Jana Leung and Emma Deeken at 12hr local hackathon
My STEM Journey
My overall STEM growth reflection that earned me the STEM Seal
hello, i'm
Heona Liu
developerbuilderartist
I build web apps with the goal of growing both myself and the people who use it, dabble in hardware with CAD and PCBs, and running off to hackathons to meet new engineers and try new things
01 — about
A little about me
I build software and (attempt) hardware — web apps, odd and creative things that I can think of. I came to hardware from software through Hack Club, and I’ve been happily running from web dev, PCB creation, backend, to UI/UX.
Right now I’m most interested in AI, I'm interested in how AI systems do (and don’t) resemble the way human brains work.
Outside of my own projects, you can find me on the badminton courts, digital art, or listening to music
- Teaching
- Penguin Coding School
- Tutoring
- Newton Chinese Language School
- Into
- hackathons, web dev, AI
- Community
- Hack Club
- Free Time
- badminton, piano, digital art
02 — projects
Things I've built
Software, hardware, experiments with computer vision, AI
1st place · Hack Club Sunbeam
Sepia
A pixel-art photobooth web app: snap a strip of photos and decorate it. Built with Jana Leung and Emma Deeken.
Badminton USB Hub
A shuttlecock-shaped USB hub on a custom PCB: one Type-C in, two Type-C and two Type-A ports out, with a keychain hole and a case that doubles as a phone stand.
Hack Club Athena: Sleepover · Chicago
StarryWhisper
An interactive universe of stars where each star is an anonymous dream.
MIT Blueprint 2026
SkillTrade
A peer-to-peer platform where you pay with knowledge, not money: trade skills with a community of learners.
Hack Club Fallout · Shenzhen
Shoot That Soup
Built with team koiterers at Hack Club Fallout, a hardware hackathon in Shenzhen.
Bearmagotchi
A bear-shaped tamagotchi on a custom PCB, with an enclosure designed in Onshape.
03 — achievements
Milestones
4th Place Women's Singles D Division, Bay State Games
Participant & "Prettiest Award" Winner, Hack Club Fallout
A hardware hackathon in Shenzhen, China, where my team built Shoot That Soup.
2nd place, BU Hacks High School (BUHHS)
For Curb Your Carbon, a trip-comparison tool for emissions, time, and cost built with Tan Tran
STEM Innovator Award, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
School nominated award and recognized for curiosity, collaboration, leadership, and a strong commitment to STEM coursework and real-world problem-solving
Co-organizer, Unplugged hackathon
With the NNHS Programming Club, hosted at the Newton Free Library on May 30, 2026.
MA Affiliate Honorable Mention, NCWIT High School Award: Aspirations in Computing
Recognition highlights students dedicated to studying computing, exploring technology-driven initiatives, and strengthening technical skills within the field
Participant, MIT Blueprint 2026
Compete in a team with Alan Tao and Ryan Li to build SkillTrade -- web app that pairs people with common skills they want to learn and skills they can teach
7th Team in Intermediate 5 Division, American Computer Science League
Compete in ACSL as 1/10 team members. Representing NNHS Programming Club and competing in all 4 contests year round, placing NNHS 7th internationally in 2025-2026
Sleepover, Hack Club Athena
April 26-28 Flew to Chicago solo to attend an all girls hackathon and built StarryWhisper with Shelley Ma and Kristena Lai
Diplomat, Beijing Jingshan Exchange Program
4 month cultural study abroad exchange program between NNHS and Beijing Jingshan School. 1 of 6 students to represent U.S. as a student diplomat in the oldest exchange between China and secondary education
Semi-Finalist, Martin Luther King Sophomore Speech
Nominated by class as 1/23 semi-finalist in grade of 550 students for excellence in spoken word and persuasiveness
sleepymeilows — 3.3M+ views
My YouTube channel for digital art and hackathon experiences
Finalist, Pulitzer Center Fighting Words Poetry Competition
Placed finalist internationally out of 1,675 entries, recognized for using written word to highlight the themes of a journal/reported story
Nothing here yet.
04 — art
Digital art
I also draw. My art channel, sleepymeilows, has 3.3M+ views. This channel also is used to journal my hackathon adventures too!
05 — writing
Blogs
Notes on things I'm building and learning.
06 — contact
Contact
Whether it’s a project, a hackathon, or just a cool idea — my inbox is open!