Senior Stephen Deng. Photo by Ryan Hames.
Malden High School’s own Stephen Deng was one of several seniors to receive a Posse scholarship. Posse, Deng states, is “an organization that believes in the potential of diversity [and] leadership.” The organization selects students from their partner schools, giving them full-tuition scholarship.
The process was “strenuous, exciting, and scary at the same time,” says Deng. However, Deng had an incredible amount of support, so he had “no excuse not to give it [his] all.”
“Finding out that [he] was selected as a Posse scholar was so surreal.” Deng was “surprised, relieved, honored, and thankful at the same time.” Senior Leah Tramondozzi was “incredibly supportive of [his] decision to apply to Posse.”
Deng “acknowledge[s] that receiving the Posse Scholarship is a testament to the late nights [he has] stayed up in the past four years,” but he wouldn’t have received this “privilege” without the “support of incredible people.”
Deng is going to be attending Centre College in the fall. Centre College is located in Danville, Kentucky, and Deng will be majoring in economics and finance, minoring in film studies. Deng cites Centre College as one of the “best colleges in the South,” holding a reputation “for having the nation’s happiest graduates and a high return on investment after graduating.”
After college, Deng would love to start his own digital marketing firm and “launch [his] own clothing line.” His goal is to “escape the 9 to 5 work day.” He hopes to “give back to the community by organically growing small businesses through social media.”
What Deng will miss most about Malden High School is how it’s “a melting pot of vibrant diversity” and hearing the “inspiring and funny life stories of teachers.”
Compared to high school, Deng believes that college will be more “demanding and eye-opening.” Around Danville, there isn’t much to do, but that, says Deng, will “help [him] stay grounded on [his] academics and business ventures for the future.”
Deng aspires to graduate from Centre College as Valedictorian, and get a full-tuition scholarship to a Posse partner graduate school, like Harvard or Northeastern for his MBA. Possibly, Deng would like to get out of Centre College and “hit the ground running,” successfully starting his own clothing line and digital marketing firm.
After college, Deng is “looking forwards towards opportunities to get hands-on work in [his] field of interest.” Deng notes the several “great digital marketing firms in Boston” and how he’d “love to get experience by working with them through internships.”
In his four years at Malden High School, Deng has had positive influence from some of his teachers, like Ms. Marquez and Mr. Bowers. Both of which, have taught Deng “the value of hard-work, responsibility, and to always put 100% into whatever is at hand.”
As Deng moves into his next chapter in life, the influential teachers, and many memories, will carry with him.
