Bulgarian immigrant now BCC president

Who: Angel Kelchev, 22, Associated Student Body president at Bellevue Community College (BCC). As president, Kelchev leads a team of nine student officers and represents the student population at the college and in the community.

The lottery: Kelchev's family immigrated from Bulgaria to Bellevue about two years ago, after his mother won residency in the American Green Card Lottery. She brought the whole family — her husband, Kelchev and his sister.

Speaking English: Kelchev studied English for two years in Bulgaria and continues to practice his skills. Reading and writing still come easier than speaking, he says.

Tough start: Kelchev had to work for a year before starting school to repay the money his family borrowed to get here. He started at BCC in 2002, working as a tutor in the college's math and reading labs and learning about student government. He ran for student-body president last year and took office in May. Kelchev maintains a 4.0 grade-point average, works full time as president and also puts in 20 hours a week at the reading lab as a tutor. "At first, I wanted to do everything," Kelchev said. "Now I am doing too many things, so I have to make priorities."

Top goal: Kelchev's top goal as president was to make the entire BCC campus wireless. Earlier this year, that happened.

Home: Bulgaria was a communist country and is now slowly making steps toward democracy, Kelchev said. "There are not as many careers or ways to advance and succeed." Here, he is getting an education while also taking advantage of scholarships, grants, financial aid and leadership opportunities. "In Bulgaria, you have to be very, very smart in order to succeed, or the son or daughter of someone in power," he said. "I love my country but did not have the opportunity to succeed without fear. It is chaotic and not a place that gives young people many chances."

Family sacrifices: Kelchev's entire family is attending BCC. His parents are taking English-as-a-second-language classes, and his sister also is enrolled as a student. It has been hard for his parents as non-English speakers. His mother works as a housekeeper, and his father was a janitor until he recently got a job driving a truck. In Bulgaria, his mother was a successful criminal lawyer and his father an engineer. "I told my parents while we were in Bulgaria that I would come to the states no matter what," Kelchev said. When his mother won the lottery, she had to make a hard choice to leave her career. "She wanted us to stay together as a family, so we all came."

Why Bellevue: Kelchev had a high-school classmate in Bulgaria who won the green-card lottery two years before his family did. She wrote to him about BCC and the opportunities he would have. She helped sponsor his family when they came, assisting them in finding an apartment and jobs and getting oriented. He chose BCC because "I wanted to figure out the system at a community college so the four-year college would be smoother."

The future: Kelchev will receive an associate's transfer degree in business administration in June and then transfer to a four-year school to study economics or business. He has applied to a business school in London and five schools in the United States — Pennsylvania, Stanford, Cornell, Brown and Howard universities.

Leslie Fulbright: 206-515-5637 or lfulbright@seattletimes.com