Kristen Kelly exudes confidence as she quickly strides across the University of Pennsylvania campus. Through her academic pursuits and the relationships she’s developed at Penn, the native Philadelphian is comfortable with her multi-racial identity and with her place in the world.

When Kelly arrived at Penn her freshman year, she wasn’t sure how she’d fit when she was introduced to the student cultural organization PAACH, the Pan Asian American Community House. Before coming to Penn, she had attended a school that was mostly white, so she hadn’t connected in a meaningful way with anyone about Asian-American identity.

“I didn’t know if I could identify as Asian American or if there was a place for me at an Asian American cultural center,” says Kelly, whose family background is Chinese, German and Irish.

Paired with a mentor at PAACH through the Promoting Enriching Experiences and Relationships, or PEER, Mentoring Program, she learned how to juggle classes along with activities at PAACH and other campus groups. Her involvement led to her becoming a mentor and holding leadership positions in student groups. Now a senior, Kelly is majoring in urban studies and English, with a minor in Asian American studies.

Her expanded interest in her Chinese heritage took her to San Francisco and, for 10 days this summer, she researched the arrival of immigrants from China in the early 1900s.

During her research as part the Heled Travel Writing Grant she received from Penn’s Kelly Writers House, she made a surprising discovery about her ancestors. At the National Archives in San Bruno, Calif., she found her great-grandfather’s immigration papers which showed that, after arriving in the United States, he worked at a store in San Francisco’s Chinatown and lived there for several years before moving to Philadelphia. 

“Up until that point, everyone in my family had been under the impression that my great-grandfather had moved immediately to the East Coast before bringing my grandfather to the U.S., says Kelly. “It was really humbling. I don’t think that people are given very many opportunities to look across several generations and reflect upon that experience.”

Kelly’s summer of exploration continued in Hong Kong from June 13 to Aug. 7, where she worked as an English teacher for K-12 students as part of the Penn Abroad International Internship Program.  

She enjoyed her days teaching, but the evenings were spent touring Hong Kong with five other teachers who are students from Columbia, Brown and Cornell universities.

They saw the Big Buddha and hiked around Lantau Island and tasted food from many different restaurants. While in Hong Kong, she became hooked on egg tart pastries. She went in search of them everywhere she traveled. 

Like a newspaper food critic, she’d sample the pastries and evaluate them.

“I judged based on the flakiness of the pastry, quality of the custard and if it's served fresh versus cold,” says Kelly. “It's something I took very seriously.”

As Kelly begins her senior year at Penn, she’s had the opportunity to find herself and her identity. While studying at Cambridge in the summer of 2014, she traveled to Ireland to visit some extended family.

“This trip to Hong Kong has really made me feel like I've covered all of my cultural bases,” says Kelly. “Traveling this summer has given me a lot to think about. I’ve been taking this time to learn more about myself and my family history.”