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The History
Behind The Young Professionals’ Scholarship
Upon graduating high school, both So-Young and I received a
number of scholarships to help fund our college educations.
However, we both observed that a large percentage of the
scholarships awarded in our high schools went to a very small
percentage of our graduating classes. In particular, many of
the scholarships went to the students who had the highest GPA s
and SAT scores. Moreover, we noticed that a number of our
friends, who we believed had great potential, were not eligible
to apply for many scholarships simply because they did not have
the strongest of academic credentials.
In 2000, So-Young and I teamed up to establish an organization
that would provide scholarships that would be very different
than most. Although academics would be a key component in the
scholarship awarding process, there would also be a number of
other factors that would be considered equally important. Among
them would be quality of character, demonstrated track-record of
dedication to a particular occupational field, and desire to
make a positive impact to society.
In
addition, to providing financial support, we wanted to take a
longer-term role in ensuring the success of our scholarship
recipients. As such, we began assembling The YPG Advisor
Network, which would be made up of individuals working in
various fields. These individuals would be available to provide
information, guidance and advice to each of our scholarship
recipients. The idea for the network stemmed from my earlier
experiences.
Since the age of 12, I have had a strong interest in
investing and the stock market.
However, because I did not know of anyone who worked in the
field, I found it extremely challenging to learn more about it.
At the time, there was no internet like we know it today. All I
had access to was my uncle, who was an individual investor and
photographer by profession. Although he taught me a great deal
about the stock market, his knowledge of how to pursue a career
involving the stock market was somewhat limited.
With
that in mind, So-Young and I decided that, as part of our
scholarship award, the recipient would gain lifetime access to
The YPG Advisor Network. We believe that the information,
guidance and advice from one or more of our advisors could be
worth well more than the monetary portion of our scholarship.
Currently, we are working on increasing awareness of our
organization, scholarship and initiatives. In addition, hope to
increase the number of scholarships that we award by attracting
corporate and individual contributions. If you would like to
help, or know someone who would like to contribute, please
contact us.
Thank you for visiting our site and for your interest.
- Orton Chen
The
Young Professionals’ Group – Investing In Our Future. |
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The Founders
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Orton Chen
graduated from
Bergenfield High School (Bergenfield, NJ) in 1991.
Subsequently, Orton attended Rutgers University from
1991-1995 and obtained a B.A. in Economics with
concentrations in Accounting and Finance.
From 1995-1996, he worked for an economic consulting
firm performing financial/economic valuations for
litigations. With the goal of pursuing a
career on Wall Street, Orton obtained an M.B.A. in
Finance from Rutgers from 1996 to 1998. Since
then, he has worked for a number of Wall Street
firms such as PaineWebber, Wasserstein Perella
Securities, Salomon Smith Barney, RedChip Research,
and Ladenburg Thalmann covering stocks in various
segments of the healthcare, energy, and technology
sectors. Currently, Orton is a Portfolio Manager
at Pinnacle Associates in New York City. |
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So-Young Kang graduated from Brandon High School
(Brandon, FL) in 1992. She then attended the
University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA) where
she majored in International Relations and Japanese
studies with a minor in Music Theory.
Her interest in mentoring and tutoring started at a
young age from teaching piano lessons in high school
to tutoring international students while attending
college. After moving to Japan in
1996, So-Young spent a year teaching English
to Japanese junior high school students in Chiba,
just outside of Tokyo, Japan.
She then
went on to manage International Sales and Promotion
for the Chiba Convention Bureau. Upon
returning to the U.S., So-Young worked at Citibank
where she was promoted to Assistant Vice President
in Marketing. So-Young completed her M.B.A. at
Harvard Business School in June, 2004.
Currently, So-Young is an Engagement Manager for McKinsey Consulting in Los Angeles. |
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