Open To Connect · Co-op '27
Surrey · BC · Canada
EE · Class of '31
Last update · May 2026
Personal Site · Vol.01 / Issue 03

HEY, I'M Woody ZHAO

Incoming Electrical Engineering student at the University of Waterloo — Class of '31. I thrive where the curve is steepest. My formula is simple: extreme discipline + rapid adaptation. AP Scholar with Distinction off six self-studied exams; youth-club leader who raised $4,000+ for Surrey Memorial Hospital.

★ EE / 26 ★

01About the kid

Brief Letter From The Editor

Extreme discipline + rapid adaptation.

That formula is how I grow. Over the past year I proved it on myself: I self-studied six AP exams with no classroom — Calculus BC, Physics 1, Computer Science A, Statistics, Macro & Micro Econ — and scored a 5 on every one. AP awarded me the title of Scholar with Distinction.

Outside the desk I lead BE YOU T.H.R.I.V.E, a non-profit student org. We planned a badminton fundraiser with the Surrey Hospitals Foundation and donated $4,000+ to Surrey Memorial Hospital. I'm also Junior Instructor at UBC Geering Up — explaining science to a room of Grade-1 "Miniminds" turns out to be the best engineering teacher I've had.

In Fall 2026 I'm joining the University of Waterloo's Electrical Engineering program. Until then this page is a quiet workshop — half journal, half index.

Based In Surrey, BC
Top Skills Fast Learning · Resilience
Languages English · 中文
Off-Desk Tennis Club · Badminton

02Selected Builds

Things I made · Some shipped
No. 01 · FEATURED Public on GitHub

LinkedIn Auto-Message Skill

A Claude Code skill that drafts and dispatches personalised cold messages to a list of LinkedIn connections — browser automation, parallel agents, and templated outreach. Built for the awkward part of networking that everyone postpones.

Claude Skill Node.js Playwright MCP Automation
SOLO · DESIGN · CODE · QA github.com/Woodz-ZZW →
No. 02 You are here

This Site — vibe-coding

A neo-brutalist personal site, vibe-coded end-to-end. No frameworks, no templates, no Inter. Type set in Archivo Black + Instrument Serif; remixed from a reference design and built by feel.

HTMLCSSDesignNo-Framework
2026 · SOLO↻ live
No. 03 Shipped

Six APs, no classroom

A twelve-month solo study sprint: Calculus BC, Physics 1, CS A, Statistics, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics — all self-taught, all 5/5. AP awarded me Scholar with Distinction in July 2025. A useful proof that I can run my own learning curve.

Self-StudyMath CSPhysicsEcon
2024 → 2025 · SOLO5 · 5 · 5 · 5 · 5 · 5
No. 04 Ongoing · Real-world

BE YOU T.H.R.I.V.E Fundraiser

Co-led a student-run non-profit and organised a community badminton competition with the Surrey Hospitals Foundation. We turned a single weekend into over $4,000 donated to Surrey Memorial Hospital — child-medical programs and local outreach. Logistics, sponsorship, volunteer coordination, the awkward emails. All of it.

LeadershipNon-Profit EventsCommunity
JUN 2025 → PRESENT · SURREY, BC$4K+ raised
No. 05 Aug 2025

Miniminds

Junior Instructor at UBC Geering Up. Taught a Grade-1 class to make harmonicas and chase first science ideas. Patience, small words, big payoff.

TeachingUBC
UBC OUTREACH

03Toolkit

Things I Reach For Daily
03.01 · Core

Mind

  • Fast Learning
  • Resiliency
  • Self-Directed Study
  • Top-6 HS Avg · 98%
03.02 · Code

Programming

  • Python
  • Java (AP CS A · 5)
  • Node.js · Playwright
  • Claude Code · MCP
03.03 · People

Leadership

  • Team Leadership
  • Teaching (Grade 1 → 11)
  • Event organising
  • Non-profit ops
03.04 · Languages

Bilingual

  • English · pro
  • 中文 · native
  • Tennis (club)
  • Badminton (events)

04Honors

Verifiable Receipts
JUL 2025

AP Scholar w/ Distinction

Awarded by the College Board after self-studying six AP exams (Calculus BC, Physics 1, CS A, Statistics, Macro & Micro Economics) and scoring a 5 on every one.

5 · 5 · 5 · 5 · 5 · 5
MAR 2024

Fermat Contest — Distinction

University of Waterloo CEMC — Certificate of Distinction. Top 25% of 19,644 Canadian students.

CEMC · 2024
98
'22 → '26

Top-6 Average · 98%

Johnston Heights Secondary — Dogwood Diploma, June 2026. Sustained academic discipline across four years.

JOHNSTON HEIGHTS

05Field Notes

Reverse Chronological
FALL 2026 → 2031

B.A.Sc. Electrical Engineering
University of Waterloo

Waterloo · Ontario · CA
Incoming. Plan: lean into the intersection of hardware, innovation, and rapid problem-solving. Open to co-op cycles on hardware-adjacent teams from cycle 2 onward.
JUN 2025 PRESENT

Leader
BE YOU T.H.R.I.V.E Youth Club Association

Surrey, BC · Hybrid · 1+ yr
One of the leaders of a student-run non-profit. Planned a community badminton fundraiser with the Surrey Hospitals Foundation; donated $4,000+ to Surrey Memorial Hospital for children's medical programs.
AUG 2025

Junior Instructor
UBC Geering Up — Engineering Outreach

South Surrey · On-site
Supported a Grade-1 class — UBC's "Miniminds" summer camp. Built teaching materials, joined daily briefings, co-designed a harmonica-making activity. Learned patience the way you learn it: slowly, in front of 6-year-olds.
2022 → 26 DOGWOOD

Johnston Heights Secondary
Surrey · Tennis Club

Grade · 98% · Top-6 avg
Graduating June 2026 with a top-6 average of 98%. Tennis Club member. Self-taught six AP exams in parallel (5/5 on each), and earned the Fermat Contest 2024 Certificate of Distinction (top 25% of 19,644 Canadian students).
JUL 24 FEB 25

Bronze Award
Duke of Edinburgh's Int'l Award

Vancouver Davis College
A self-development program across Physical Recreation, Skills, Volunteering, and an Expedition leg. Forced me to build the resilience and discipline that the academic side rewards.
P.S. coffee accepted ☕

Let's build
something

Have a co-op opening, a hardware idea you want a second pair of eyes on, or a circuit worth nerding out about? My inbox is open.