Anita Wong’s Story

Anita Wong is in her second year on a full scholarship at Northeastern University exploring Finance, Business, and Accounting. Math has always come easily to her, and she became interested in finance during high school when her family hit a particularly rough financial patch. Both her parents had to stop working, and Anita took on as much after school and summer work as she could to earn money and support her family. She started managing the family’s budget and realized finance was a potential career area for her. 

While Anita is the youngest of four children, she was the first in the family to graduate high school on time. Growing up, she watched her mother suffer with her siblings’ school struggles and this drove her work ethic. She explains, “My parents came all the way from Hong Kong to an unfamiliar place to give us a better life and they worked so hard here to support us. I wanted my mom to be proud of me and to be able to just enjoy her life, so I worked as hard as I could.” 

Anita sees the value of Passport as mentorship and explains, “I thought my Coach was just going to help me with applications, and she did do that. She helped me make my scholarship essays the best they could be, and I earned $6K in private scholarships. But she did a lot more than that. She became a friend and mentor. I can talk to her about anything.” 

And even as a busy college student with a part-time job, Anita is already giving back as a volunteer to 5 different organizations. She says it’s her way of de-stressing.  She tutors students in math, including Passport students, at JQUS. “I’m so glad to volunteer and I’m so glad Coaches are helping first gen kids like me. I want all Passport kids to know that they aren’t alone. We aren’t different from any other students. We are unique in our experiences but just as capable.”