Kelly Deng – Semi Finalist, Seeds of Fortune

Hi! My name is Kelly Deng and I am a Junior at Hillcrest High School! And I am applying for the Seeds of Fortune Economics Scholarship Program! A little about myself is that I am a first-gen student that is bilingual in both Chinese and English! Both my parents are from China and I’m a Chinese-American, which is a huge part of my identity. Growing up, I’ve had very limited opportunities as my parents worked tirelessly to bring food to the table and was always put in ESL classes for my “bad english” and poor academics. But here I am now, accomplishing the role of Student Representative, as a Junior, at Hillcrest High School, Captain of the JV Volleyball Team, now playing Varsity level, which I won an award for, and as well as putting my time on tutoring other students and was a Teachers AID, while maintaining a 4.0 GPA! Furthermore, I’ve always been interested in helping others as I babysit kids, helping my family, tutoring other students, and as well as a Monitor for my Chemistry Teacher and Pre-Med Director at my school! I always take as many opportunities given to me which helped me grow as a person, as well as learning many things even if I make mistakes. Thank you for taking the time to review my application and hope to consider me for this program!