February, 2010

Amy Huang, University of Southern California, Class of 2012 

"Ever since I could read, I have loved books," recalls Amy Huang. "I think my love for books has contributed greatly to my academic success because I learned most of my English from them!" Born in Chicago to Chinese immigrant parents, Amy learned to balance her scholarly and extracurricular lives at Walter Payton College Prep, where she flourished academically amid such activities as kung fu, the high school's debate team, and Chicago's first all-female traditional Chinese lion dance team. In 2008 she headed to Los Angeles to join the class of 2012 at the University of Southern California, a destination she thanks Chicago Scholars for helping her select. "I especially liked the College Speed Dating workshop, because it helped me understand what kind of college or university I wanted to attend," she says.

At USC, in addition to her psychology studies, Amy continues to keep her heritage and her future in equilibrium. In 2008, she worked to mobilize Los Angeles voters as an intern at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, and also joined the Asian-interest sorority Delta Phi Kappa, of which she is now fundraising chair, academic chair, and representative to the Asian Pacific American Student Assembly. This year, she is co-heading the committee behind the Take Back the Night Clothesline project, a weeklong event to raise awareness of sexual violence.

After college, Amy plans to spend two years with the Teach For America program and earn an MBA or Master's degree in human behavior, then return to Chicago to do "good non-profit work for the Asian-American community in Chicago." No doubt part of that good work will find her encouraging younger students to pursue the same goals she has. "My mother always told me that as long as I worked hard enough, I could attend any college or university I wanted to, despite my family's inability to pay for a university such as USC," she explains. "Chicago Scholars is proving my mother right, and I would like to thank them for that."