ELK CITY, Okla. (KFOR) – Becky Yang usually sits in one of the booths nearest the front door of her parents’ restaurant, close by in case they might need help at the Golden China on the west edge of town.
“When it’s really busy,” she smiles, “I can practice math and be a cashier for a bit.”
Andy and Jenny don’t know a lot of English.
They came from the countryside, on the mainland near Hong Kong in the early 90s, and moved to Elk City when Becky was young to take over operations.
“I was around 4 years old,” she recalls. “I remember walking around and messing up the walls with a pen.”
Becky and her sister formed most of their memories here, but their workload at the buffet or the dishwashing station didn’t amount to much.
Instead, their parents asked them to work on schooling.
“They told me that education was very important,” she states.
Whatever the public schools could offer, Becky did.
She took every hard class, and read every book she could get her hands on.
Yang argues, “Reading books really helped me get through difficult material. I feel like my comprehension improved.”
In 2020 when Covid hit and everything shut down, Becky’s parents doubled down on their request.
The only break Becky took from studying was to help her parents fill out paperwork.
“Unemployment stuff,” she recalls. “That was something I had to help them with.”
She is the class of 2024.
Becky’s concentration on studies worked out quite well.
She made Academic All-State, and is valedictorian at Elk City HIgh.
Practicing for the ACT paid off too; she earned a perfect score.
Her destination this fall, Princeton University.
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“I kind of screamed,” she recalls at receiving her acceptance letter, “and my sister looked at me.”
Each year in Oklahoma and elsewhere, the light shines on a few graduates who rise above the rest.
Becky Yang’s hard work in the restaurant paid off.
The secret sauce, a dedication to family, and a promise to repay them with the kind of success every Oklahoman can be proud of.
“It was an ordeal but we made it through,” smiles Becky.
Yang is also heading to college with 18 credit hours she earned in concurrent study at the SWOSU campus in Sayre.
She’s planning to take part in a work-study program and major in Computer Science or Chemical Engineering.
You can read more about Becky’s senior accomplishments here .
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