A John F. Kennedy High School graduate is turning heads after he was accepted into four prestigious universities– Yale, Stanford, Duke and University of Pennsylvania. But despite what would be a hard decision for anyone, islander Andrew Kang’s heart is set on Silicon Valley in pursuit of STEM, start ups and law.

Just a few months ago, Kang was a senior at the Tumon high school and “scared for his future” when he was waitlisted and even rejected from some safe colleges he had applied to.

“I was pretty confident, but after those, I was like ‘oh, this is not the picture I painted in my head,’” Kang said.

But the Islander describes the sheer joy when he got accepted into not one, but four of the top universities in the world.

“I remember just jumping up. I’m kind of teary-eyed just thinking about it,” he said. “My friend was eating his fiesta plate and I was sitting down. I was waiting to read my acceptance letters or decision letters with my family, so I wasn’t looking at them.”

His first acceptance letter came unexpectedly, in the middle of an activity day at JFK. Reading it was also unintentional.

“What happened was, an email dropped down (on my phone), very unintentionally, a notification dropped down that said ‘welcome to Yale,’” Kang said.

On top of Yale, he would soon get welcome letters from two ivy leagues, Duke University and University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford.

“Then, at a speech and debate tournament, I opened my Stanford letter. The same joy, the same eruption of claps. I was jumping up from my seat. It was such a life defining moment even, because I know that these are life altering decisions and life altering moments I’ll be having,” he said.

Kang has made that life altering decision and he’s now Stanford bound in less than two weeks.

“I can’t wait until I spread my wings in the San Francisco area. I’m trying to get into the startup scene, do a lot of cool things at Stanford, even screenwriting. I’m very looking forward to it,” he said.

Despite the difficult decision of picking where to spend his next four years, he said the number one reason he chose Stanford is because of the opportunities it will give him.

“When I looked at these schools, they had a lot of prestige to them. But I wanted to see which ones were well rounded,” he said.

With a well rounded humanities division, a top law school and a promising STEM program– he said Stanford is a perfect fit for him and his passions. It’s also a fitting place for his interest in start ups, at the hub of innovation at Silicon Valley.

Kang has definitely put in the hard work throughout high school. He became interested in STEM in sophomore year.

“I started with coral reef research. I’d wake up at four am in the morning and walk the entirety of Tumon bay. I’d have a sensor thing and check for ground water. After that, I worked on seagrass disease on the island of Guam,” he described.

He also represented Guam in international science fairs–an opportunity he says is thanks to growing up on an island like Guam.

“There were a lot of STEM accolades along the way, with a lot of really cool marine biology research that only Guam had to offer. I feel it’s really true that I couldn’t have been able to do those cool marine biology research I like, for example (if I lived in) Ohio or Alabama,” he said.

Kang took home second place at the 2024 Taiwan International Science Fair, got the NOAA Special Award at Regneron ISEF– the largest pre-collegiate science fair, was the champion at the National STEM Challenge Champion where he was the only representative from Guam against a hundred others from the US, and is a National Institutes of Health STEP-UP Scholar.

Meantime, the incoming college freshman plans to return to Guam every summer and continue to give back to the community that raised him. He already spends time at church speaking with the youth and encouraging interest in STEM.

“A quick from-the-heart thank you note to my understanding teachers, great school faculty, GTA for funding my flights, helpful peers, and loving family. All glory to God,” he said.