Hometown: San Diego, CA
High School: Our Lady of Peace High School
Major: General Engineering
Kelly Rickwa grew up in San Diego, California, and was passionate about social justice from a young age. She aims to combine her love of engineering and social justice to create positive change and improvement. She has recently graduated from Our Lady of Peace High School, where she remained on the school’s honor roll for all four years.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kelly utilized her love of sewing to craft hundreds of masks for healthcare professionals at a local medical center. Throughout high school, she consistently tutored with Kid by Kid and TutorHER, weekly online programs that paired tutors with kids with limited resources in grade schools.
In high school, she branched out across activities, co-founding the school newspaper, and eventually gathering more than forty student members. She participated in the Science Olympiad and Robotics teams, working collaboratively to create innovative projects to tackle the competitions. She contributed to developing other STEM opportunities for students on campus like the Math Honor Society. In class, she excelled as she laid the foundation for engineering, gaining recognition as an AP Scholar. In addition to STEM-related activities, she was active in the theater department at her school, performing in many theater productions, including Newsies and Mamma Mia. She even performed in her friend’s original production.
Kelly began contributing to her high school’s all-girls Hackathon in her sophomore year, finding and contacting judges and a keynote speaker. The following year, she co-led the event with the theme of Animal Endangerment, which was sponsored by the San Diego Zoo. She also organized sponsorships and judging, introduced alumni mentors, and helped run the event. Kelly learned many skills from this experience, and her favorite part was seeing the progression of the teams from shy strangers to excited presenters.
Kelly is excited to continue this new journey at Santa Clara and is grateful to have a supportive community of Johnson Scholars. She hopes to find where her passions for engineering and community meet and, in the process, create lifelong connections.