Dear Peninsula Bridge Supporters,

If you ask Peninsula Bridge scholar Ven Fang what they’re most looking forward to next year during their final year of high school, they don’t hesitate. “Going out with a bang,” Ven says. “I want to see all my hard work pay off and come together.” For a junior who has quietly been building one of the most impressive resumes at Hillsdale High School — a 4.47 GPA, over 500 hours of community service and work experience, and a summer internship at Kaiser on the horizon — that confidence is more than earned.

A Family Built on Hard Work

Ven, the child of Chinese immigrants, grew up in San Mateo where their mother runs a local daycare. Academic effort and achievement is an important family value, and a family legacy. Ven’s older brother is a college student studying computer science, and their younger brother, a freshman at Hillsdale, is also a Peninsula Bridge scholar. “Working hard at school, getting good grades, and making the most of the educational opportunities I’m given matters a lot in my family,” Ven says simply. 

Ven joined Peninsula Bridge the summer after sixth grade, attending summer academy at the Crystal Springs Uplands School site. There Ven leaned into a love of art – a passion they discovered through writing and illustrating stories inspired by their neighbor’s Barbie dolls – through a collage art project that still influences their creative work today. “Art is a release and a break from schoolwork,” Ven says. “I do commissions, and create fan art in my free time. I’ve always loved creating. Art was one of the first ways I learned how to express myself, and that’s stuck with me.”  

But it was the independence Ven built during Peninsula Bridge summer academy and after school academy that changed them most. “As a younger student, I was more reliant on others, less confident,” Ven reflects. “With Peninsula Bridge, I’ve learned to get into the flow of things on my own, to identify what I want and need, and go after it.”

Rooted in Care

That self-reliance is paying dividends. Through a partnership with Peninsula Bridge, Ven was selected for a competitive summer 2025 internship with Dr. Sachin Parikh, a renowned plastic surgeon and founder of L&P Aesthetics Medical. Over the course of the internship, Ven gained hands-on experience in a medical clinic setting and observed three surgeries — a rare and formative opportunity for any high school student.

Now, Ven is set to build on that foundation with a second consecutive summer of clinical experience. This summer, they will complete a 7-week paid internship with the Kaiser Permanente KP LAUNCH Program in South San Francisco — a competitive internship designed to diversify the pipeline of future health care leaders. There Ven will gain real work experience alongside health care professionals across disciplines, pairing hands-on projects with professional development workshops, mentorship, and exposure to senior leaders in their medical fields of interest. Ven hopes these deepening experiences will help solidify a career aspiration — to become a nurse anesthetist.

A career in care is an obvious next step for Ven, who is well known for showing up for others. For the past three years, they have served as a camp counselor at Hope Lutheran Church in Daly City, working with 5th graders in a five-week summer program — planning and leading daily activities, teaching math lessons, and designing the recreational themes that carried each week. Ven also volunteers monthly at the nursing unit of Campus for Jewish Living in San Francisco, responding to patient needs, supporting well-being through companionship, and working alongside medical staff. It’s exactly the kind of patient, present care that the best healthcare providers bring to their work every day. “I love helping others,” Ven says, “and I’ve always been interested in the healthcare field.”

That instinct to nurture and teach carries into Ven’s school life too. In AP Biology (a favorite class) and Psychology, Ven channels a love of STEM into understanding the very systems they one day hope to work within. Walk the halls of Hillsdale High School and you’ll find Ven managing social media for Art Club, designing promotional banners and PR materials for the school’s leadership class, and tutoring fellow students in math after school. Ven’s creative talents have earned recognition beyond the classroom as well — including a Best Animation Award at the 2025 Hillsdale Film Contest. Three words Ven’s closest friends would use to describe them? “Creative, ambitious, and passionate.” And Ven would add a fourth value of their own: loyalty. “I think it’s something valuable and appreciated in all aspects of life.”

Ven’s Advice: Say Yes

And behind the scenes, Ven’s Peninsula Bridge advisor, Stephanie Lopez-Hernandez, has been a steady source of guidance—helping them navigate course selections, refine internship applications, and think strategically about their future. With that support, Ven’s learned not just what opportunities exist, but how to pursue them with confidence. “Through PB, I realized that college—and everything after it—is actually achievable,” they say. “You just have to be willing to work for it.”

When asked what advice they’d give younger Peninsula Bridge students, including their brother, Ven’s answer is powerful: Take advantage of everything. “The program offers so many amazing opportunities,” Ven says. “Don’t stay on the sidelines and wait for things to happen.” Ven’s advice goes beyond participation—it’s about mindset. Apply for the internship. Try something new. Say yes before you feel fully ready. “You don’t always realize how much you’re capable of until you actually go for it,” Ven says.

It’s advice Ven has lived, and advice that continues to shape their path forward. With your support, first-generation scholars like Ven are gaining the confidence to pursue ambitious goals, the experience to stand out, and the belief that the future is theirs to shape.

Thank you for being part of Ven’s story, and for helping make journeys like theirs possible every day.

Warmly,

Randi Shafton 
CEO
Peninisula Bridge