05/21/2026
When Olivia Mello ’20 was in eighth grade, she wasn’t searching for a perfect college campus. She was searching for a sound.
Scrolling online, she found a video titled Beyond the Notes featuring Chapman University’s Dr. Grace Fong, the head of piano studies. Olivia had been studying piano since she was six, and something about the way Dr. Fong taught made the future feel real. “If college is anything like learning from this lady here, I want to be a part of it,” Olivia said.
Years later, when Olivia was accepted to Chapman, it wasn’t a generic admissions message that sealed it. Dr. Fong emailed her personally and invited her to travel to Italy that summer to perform and attend master classes at the Semper Music International Festival. Olivia’s first time seeing Chapman’s campus in person would come later, during orientation week, but by then, her decision was already made.
How first-gen Chapman University alum Olivia Mello went from piano performance in the Conservatory of Music to Yale Law.