WCAAD Student Dora Dong Earned Acceptance to Otis with Scholarship

Congratulations to Dora Dong as she will enter Otis College of Art and Design majoring in Fashion and a scholarship of $100,000!

Additional admitted schools:

Art Center College of Design-scholarship $60,000

Pratt (Munsons)-scholarship $76,000

I truly believe that Dora Dong has the tenacity and drive to flourish in any institute. I have seen Dora ever more creative, curious, and passionate about her future. Over these last two years Dora has produced work that is thoughtful critical and craftsmanship in line with a professional presentation.

These last month before graduation was especially inspirational having all the portfolio and dedication come together.

She is great with digital fabrication, 3D modeling, and traditional applications.

In her product design, she explores human relationships with products and care about the environment, particularly how design can be used to change the community and the ways we inhabit the earth.

In her fashion she can be innovated with her meticulous attention to detail and experimentation with “what can be fashion”.

Dora won the California State Treasure Award at the 2025 Health Fair Drawing Contest and the Gold Prize at the 2026 Greater Bay Area International Children's Art Contest.

She is the type of student who learns by process, by trying to solve the problem. She truly is attempted to push herself to improve, and serious in both academics and visual development.

Dora is very organized and in task while working and genuinely tried to understand how things work and how she could improve her next projects. Her challenges at first were how to manage time for efficiency and procrastination.

Over time, she learned to break down bigger problems and do it in smaller parts, staying organized and manage the time for better result. She says-“Being passionate is something I relate to the most, I put in full effort and stay committed to something that I care about. I strive to achieve the best in what I do.” I can verify with the upmost enthusiasm that this was the case as she always gave 100%!

I see Dora capable of engaging in professional settings with our senior show where she presented and sold her works. She stirs up conversation upon various art backgrounds as she is truly interested in all aspects of art production and the way things work.

Her background is as colorful in that she has participated in various events and has an extensive participation with various communities giving her a vast perspective in understanding groups that translates back into her work.

Extracurricular activities, clubs, sports-She has played squash beginning in 4th grade; and ranked 46th nationally in US squash GU15. Dora won first place in many tournaments and received high rankings in her divisions. As a senior she was in the Art Club and Key Club where she engaged in meeting new people and participated in volunteering opportunities outside of the school.

In volunteer and community service her impact and passion for animal contribution was that she was able to create cat beds and cage covers for the Pasadena Humane Society continuously for the past 3 years, in total, about 25 cat beds and 50 cage covers.Perhaps this inspiration crossed over as she designed cat wear as you can see as part of her portfolio. In the process of making it, her goal was to help the animals in the shelter at the same time learning and doing something she is truly passionate about and at the same time learning to sew and use the sewing machine efficiently for fast production with care and need.

Work and internship experience include a two-week internship at a fashion company in China, learning how to make patterns and the process of turning a design into a product.

Her love of illustration, product design and fashion have been integral part of her journey and I’m ecstatic to see where Dora’s future will lead her in her creative endeavors.

(By Omar Gallegos,WCAAD Vice Principal and Director of Education)