Graduating to top colleges

++++++From+left+to+right%2C+Monica+Lin%2C+Eden+Chen%2C+Justin+Chuang%2C+Derrick+Li%2C+Jay+Zhang%2C+Leslie+Sim%2C+Benjamin+Chen%2C+Sabrina+Tseng%2C+Rebecca+Kimn+and+Janette+Park+are+ten+of+the+DBHS+students+who+have+been+accepted+into+prestigious+universities.

Calvin Ru

From left to right, Monica Lin, Eden Chen, Justin Chuang, Derrick Li, Jay Zhang, Leslie Sim, Benjamin Chen, Sabrina Tseng, Rebecca Kimn and Janette Park are ten of the DBHS students who have been accepted into prestigious universities.

Sophia Kim, Asst. Web Editor

After four years of high school accomplishments, a collection of Diamond Bar High School seniors will be heading to prestigious colleges this fall.

Among students who previously had announced school decisions, Morgan Pak will be attending Dartmouth, Derrick Li is headed to  Stanford, Janette Park and Rebecca Kimn are headed to Cornell while Sabrina Tseng and Benjamin Chen have selected MIT as their college.  

Five more DB students will be spending the next four years at Ivy League schools.

Jay Zhang, a valedictorian and National Merit finalist, will attend Yale with plans to double major in bio-medical engineering and linguistics.

 Zhang took 13 AP classes at DBHS.

“I wanted to go to an undergraduate-focused college and Yale definitely is that,” Zhang said. “Also, I wanted to go to a liberal arts college as well.”

Along with Zhang, Leslie Sim will also attend Yale.

Sim was actively involved in TSA, Brahma Tech, Science Bowl and fencing.

“The good thing about Yale is that you go in undecided and explore different subjects until you find one you really enjoy and then commit by the end of sophomore year,” Sim said.

Justin Chuang will be heading to Columbia University and will major in political science and business.

Also attending Columbia will be Eden Chen, who  will be participating in an exchange program with the Juilliard School, a New York arts institute.

Chen will mainly attend Columbia University but will have weekly music lessons at the Juilliard at the same time.

He will also have the opportunity to play with other Juilliard musicians and chamber groups.

“I chose it mainly because I wanted to keep my music pursuit at a high level while still being able to kind of expand my knowledge in one of the top universities,” Chen said.

Chen said he hopes to be a concert pianist but is also looking for a career in the creative field.

During his time at DBHS, Chen was deeply involved the symphony orchestra, acting as their pianist.

Monica Lin decided to attend University of Pennsylvania after getting accepted into the school’s Huntsman program.

The program will allow her to work toward two degrees at the same time, one in International Studies and the other in Economics. Lin hopes to work in the social and economic development network of the United Nations.

“In high school, I tried to do the things I really loved doing instead of getting lost in the whole I should get an officer position because it’ll look good on my college app,” Lin said.

 Actively involved in Debate and Mock Trial, Lin was also the vice president for MUN and was involved in Interact Club and USB. She was also accepted into Duke, Cornell, Johns Hopkins, UC Berkeley and UCLA.