The start of senior Chelsea Guo’s writing journey can be defined by a collection of moments: being reprimanded by her elementary school teachers for reading too much, describing the scenery outside her car window during road trips and creating back-and-forth lines of poetry with her twin sister.
Over time, that instinct to notice the world and translate it into language grew as Guo entered writing competitions to challenge herself and improve. At first, it was hard to find peers to give constructive feedback on her writing. However, as Guo got further into her writing career, the mentors and teachers she met helped her prevail.
“Her writing ability is just exceptional,” English teacher Maggie Welsh said. “I’ve never seen it, and I’ve been teaching for 26 years. She has a very raw, very bold style for her age, one that is insightful beyond her years. She also uses unique symbols and comparisons that I think you only see in really polished writing by professional writers.”
In middle school, Guo began to enter competitions like Scholastic Arts & Writing, in which she received several regional recognitions. Guo is a 2025 awardee of the Scholastic Gold Medal award, the highest possible honor through that organization, and is also a 2024 and 2026 winner of another one of the nation’s most prestigious writing competitions, YoungArts.
Growing up in Silicon Valley, where humanities-inclined students are all too often steered towards pursuing STEM degrees, Guo has had to stay firm in her sense of purpose.
“There have been times where I’ve thought, ‘Maybe I should try my hand at something STEM related,’” Guo said. “But I think it goes back to doing what you really love and enjoy doing.”
That conviction has been nurtured by the people around her. Her mother brought her to bookstores rather than just libraries so she could reread books and absorb their craft rather than skim the plot under a return deadline. Her sister Claire Guo — also a writer — has served as her most honest critic.
“I always tell my sister, ‘There’s still time to change it, so give me your honest opinion,’” Guo said. “She’ll say, ‘I think it’s right, but you need to cut this, or the ending wasn’t well resolved.’ Having someone who can be honest with you, and who understands the struggles of being a writer, is really powerful.”
Guo’s writing process usually begins with an image or overarching metaphor that guides the story forward. She keeps a mental inventory of moments from everyday life, knowing they might become the heart of a piece. One such moment came while she was teaching a class of third graders. A girl opened her hand to reveal a ladybug, explaining that she had clipped its wings so it could stay with her.
“She obviously didn’t do this to harm the ladybug,” Guo said. “She just wanted to keep it. But in doing so, she clipped its freedom, so she actually hurt it by trying to keep it to herself.”
The image, Guo noted, could be a metaphor for parental love and good intentions gone wrong. These layered, emotionally specific stories most often explore the Asian American experience and the disorientation of being young and trying to make sense of the world.
“I wouldn’t say that’s the only thing I know how to write,” Guo said, “but those are the stories where I feel the messages are the strongest — the ones closest to me.”
Still, writing is not without its difficulties. There’s always a sense of self-doubt that shadows the craft.
“Writing is very subjective, and there are so many ways to write a good story,” Guo said. “So every writer has to learn how to overcome self-doubt and believe in themselves.”
Her antidote for this is community, with whom she keeps up through social media. The high school literary world is small — something that has brought her great comfort and an easier time making new friends. Next fall, Guo will bring that community with her to Stanford, where she plans to pursue English with a creative writing minor — the most popular minor on campus. Her long-term goal is to publish a novel.
“I’ll just continue writing and see wherever it takes me,” Guo said.
