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Hi! I'm Anna Hsu (she/her), an 18 year old senior from Northern Virginia attending Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. I'm a journalist, musician, and engineer interested in how the world works so I make it a better place. When I'm not at school or working on my next project, you can find me eating Taiwanese food while watching TV with my family!

walking in neighborhood wearing blue walking on trail walking in neighborhood wearing red

Hallo! My name's Anna Hsu (she/her), and I'm an 18 year old senior based in Northern Virginia attending Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. I have so many interests it'll take me a while to explain them all! You can view all of my work in my portfolio. (TL;DR: I'm a journalist, musician, web developer, hobbyist CTFer, and aspiring engineer.)

Firstly, I'm a staff writer for tjTODAY, my school newsmagazine. You can view my profile and take a look at some of my articles, if you'd like! I report on a wide variety of topics from cybersecurity to entertainment. Mostly, I'm just passionate about sharing stories that go untold or those that are overlooked because people often don't have the skills to report on. Here on my blog, I share personal updates, but I also post some discarded article ideas, and things I just don't have the time to change into freelance pieces. Although I've only found the time to write more recently, I've always loved watching the news, and through the years, I've been inspired by none other than the great David Muir. My childhood dream was to become a news anchor — who knows, maybe it'll happen someday!

Most of my dreams evolved from my early childhood, if I'm being entirely honest. I remember listening to Taiwanese pop music with my parents and sister. It wasn't a surprise when I began playing music myself! I began playing piano when I was four, flute when I was ten, and composing when I was twelve. Although I compete, I've found my greatest success in sharing music with others for fun. I post a lot of my performances on my YouTube channel, and I also perform for seniors in my spare time with the Tacy Foundation. At school, I've participated in Colonial Chamber Players' rendition of Schubert's famed "Trout" Quintet in A Major, and this year, I'll be leading the club with one of my closest friends. I'm always open to constructive criticism and piece suggestions! I love collaborations on pop arrangements, so definitely reach out if you have an idea. I'd love to help you realize it!

As I grew older, I started looking into new fields such as tech. I discovered HTML in 8th grade, and I've never looked back since! It served as an entry point for me into the world of computer science and later electrical engineering. I'm the Chief Lecturer of TJ Dev Club, my school's premier web development club, and I've worked on a variety of websites for groups including TJ Latin and the Tacy Foundation. I also participate in CTFs (cybersecurity capture-the-flag) as a hobbyist, part of PRINCESSES OF REDPWN, and with TJ CSC, my school's computer security club, where I'm a Lecturer. Cybersecurity is important to me, but so is equal representation in tech — that's why I also work with cyberweek.org as a Curriculum Development Team Leader and Marketing Intern to reach out to underrepresented minorities in CS and cybersecurity to help introduce students to the world on cybersecurity and educate them from an early age on safe online habits.

Lastly, I'm also an aspiring engineer. One of my best high school memories has been working in TJ's Microelectronics Research Lab. Pre-COVID during my sophomore year, one of my best friends and I built a two-line AM audio chain, which allowed me to connect two of my greatest passions together: music and engineering! Although we've been constrained to working at home during the pandemic, I've since built Ben Eater's 6502 computer and a Teensy audio sampler and sequencer. As a senior, I'll be working on a year-long capstone project in the lab, so I hope you'll follow along to see my progress!

In my rare spare time, you can find me listening to Taiwanese music (Mayday and Jay Chou ♥), drinking lots of good tea, or complaining about the Washington Nationals' poor standing while wholeheartedly rooting for them internally. (Trea Turner is objectively the most underrated player in the whole MLB, by the way).

Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions! My resume is available here. You can reach me by email and Discord (available upon request).

Anna's resume and headshot are available. (Photo credit: Greg Hsu)

Journalism

Anna Hsu (she/her) is an 18 year old senior from Northern Virginia attending Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. She first found her passion for journalism through watching ABC’s World News Tonight daily as a young child, fascinated by their reporting, and David Muir still inspires her to this day. You can find her work online at tjTODAY. In her (rare) spare time, you can find Anna breaking her computer, watching Studio Ghibli movies and cdramas, and practicing piano for competitions.

Music

Anna Hsu (she/her) is an 18 year old senior from Northern Virginia attending Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. She's always been a musician: she began playing piano at age four, flute at age ten, and composing at age twelve, although her musical journey began as a toddler when she listened to classical works with her mother and Mandopop with her father. Competing as a pianist in the DC Metropolitan area, Anna has won the WMTA Raissa Tselentis Award of Excellence, placed in the WMTA Hartman Competition, and received honors for the NVMTA Sonata Festival, among other notable musical achievements. At TJ, she's also the Co-President of Colonial Chamber Players, Jefferson's first chamber music club. In the realm of composition, she recently placed second at the NVMTA Composition Competition. She's also shared her performances with seniors across the DMV through the Tacy Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to sharing the healing power of music. You can find her performances on her YouTube channel. In her (rare) spare time, you can find Anna catjamming to Taylor Swift and Owl City, hiking and running in her neighborhood, and throwing peace signs.

Engineering

Anna Hsu (she/her) is an 18 year old senior from Northern Virginia attending Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. Like many others, she found her first love in engineering through Legos, building the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, her first set, as a three year old with her father in their dining room over the span of a week. Since then, she's written websites, played CTF, and melted resistors on transistors while working with electronics. In her (rare) spare time, you can find Anna practicing her Mandarin and Japanese, scrolling mindlessly through Reddit like a true Zoomer, and finding new hobbies.