Mallea Kelly ‘27, a current sophomore at GA, has had a large impact on the GA community and beyond through writing her own novel and her volunteer efforts.
Kelly has always had a passion for short stories, starting to write her own in first grade. During the COVID-19 lockdown, at the age of 11, Kelly started to draft her book, “The Orphan’s Game”, a novel about a teenage girl named Carmen.
“I had an obsession with the story. This was before I knew how to actually craft a book,” Kelly said. “So, I wrote it as a short story and I added more chapters, more characters, and character arcs..”
Inspired by her cousin, who self-published their own book, Kelly decided to pursue publication at her school.
“I thought I would have it at the school I was at. I didn’t think it would be that big of a thing,” Kelly said. “GA was a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. I thought it would only be a book in the small town I was living in.”
Currently, Kelly has stopped selling The Orphans Game, but she has spent about thirty minutes every night for the past year working on a new book, which she has completed the manuscript for and hopes to publish by the end of the year.
“It is a lot different than The Orphans Game, but I think it is a lot better,” Kelly said. “I have definitely grown since then … It was definitely good at the time, but not as good as my current work.”
Kelly’s new book is about a few girls who communicate with a mysterious spirit and try to find out whether the spirit is God or the Devil.
Not only is Kelly a successful writer, she is also an impactful volunteer. This year, she started a partnership with CSO and CHOP, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where GA students donate candy to sick children who can not go trick-or-treating.
Kelly came up with the idea when she was in the hospital after her grandfather passed away, and she wondered about how the children could go trick-or treating
“When I saw the kids in the hospital, I was like, they aren’t going to be at Halloween. And that sucks,” Kelly said. “So I was initially planning on giving my candy to them, and then I realized I could get people to bring in candy and make it bigger.”
Kelly brought the idea to Mr. Moyer, and after a lot of hard work and months of planning with the CSO, the school board, and Mr. Rich Schellhas, she was able to make it happen.
“It was a long process, but it was very, very fruitful,” Kelly said. “We got more than five times the candy than the previous year because of GA.”
Kelly’s motivation behind her endeavors stems from her desire to help others who are struggling.
“I want to make life easier for people who are going through stuff. When I go through stuff, I like reading good books, and I want to put more good books out there,” Kelly said. “I know candy isn’t life-saving stuff, but getting a nice big bag of candy when you are a kid is important.”
All in all, Kelly has had large impacts through her ventures in both writing and volunteerism. Her effort to help others is something that everyone can learn from.