Colleges dish out decision letters

James Yang, Staff Writer|April 14, 2023

The end of the school year is a sign of the next year’s beginning—especially so for the seniors, as they will be receiving their admission letters in the next few weeks. Many Diamond Bar High School students have applied via general decision to the UCs, through which students apply in the fall and receive their letters in the spring, unlike the previously accepted early decision students. 

Few have been accepted—a testament to the difficulty of getting accepted to one of the prestigious colleges. 

Those that have been welcomed to their schools of choice via the general method, however, include Diamond Bar High School seniors Ryan Chung, Dawson Lam, Natasha Kho and Kelsey Wu.

Chung was recently admitted into several UCs, such as those in Los Angeles, San Diego, Davis and Riverside. Among his achievements are several medals at the Science Olympiad states and regionals competitions as well as title of Student of the Year for DBHS’ AP Chemistry, AP Environmental Science and IB Bio HL classes. Stemming from his passion and efforts surrounding the medical fields, he assisted with the development of a new prototype inhaler Chung plans to pursue cell biology and the anatomical sciences after graduation.

Dual-wielding a talent for the arts and a high time investment in his extracurriculars, Lam has been invited to attend Pepperdine, Chapman University and UCLA next year. He actively participates in DBHS’ E-Sports Club and mentors over the robotics team, also leading the audio engineering division of the Game Development Club he co-founds. However, Lam will be majoring in a music-related field, motivated by his position as a section leader and the Principal Bass of the DBHS Symphony group.

“Previously I was in the American Red Cross club, where I served as the president last year,” Lam said via Discord. “Currently, I just participate in music related extracurriculars as that is my major, but other than that, the activities I’m involved in most are competitive speedcubing and e-sports.”

Though she has yet to receive word from UC Berkeley and several other schools, Kho was admitted by the California State University of Long Beach. She has interned at the Metro Transportation Career Academy, earning first place in the art division of the program and second place overall. As the 2022 Student of the Year for AP Computer Science and the current Programming Lead for Diamond Bar High’s Team Sprocket, Kho aims to work on computer science as a major in college.

A student with numerous significant achievements to her name, Wu was invited to learn with Cal Poly Pomona and UCLA, Santa Barbara and Merced. Having primarily focused her activities on political science and public policy, Wu founded “For You,” an award-winning international nonprofit organization aiming to raise awareness and make a change to the eating disorder pandemic, as well as the Eating Disorders Coalition Youth Advisory Council, a federal level organization passing legislation for the same cause.

Along with researching public health with college professors at Harvard and UCSF, she spoke at several prestigious situations, such as in TEDx and before the US Senate to pass the Out of Kids Hands Bill. As a Brahma, Wu led HOSA to win state competitions and become finalists in an international competition over the summer in 2022. As a result of her many accomplishments, she intends to study the political sciences and public health next fall.

“There were so many times where I put in so much work applying for an opportunity only to get straight out rejected,” Wu said. “But no matter how many times you don’t get what you hoped for, every rejection you face is a redirection to a better path. Don’t ever be afraid to fail.”