One shiny steel pot. One block of cheddar cheese. A mission to create cream of broccoli soup. As Karena Kong stared down into the pot, she wondered why the cheese did not melt properly into liquid form.

“We burnt the cheese, and everything just turned out wrong,” she said. “There’s times when you’re experimenting, and it’s okay to be spontaneous and make a mess. You never know what might turn out. It might be something that tastes really nice; it could be something that tastes awful, but it’s good experimentation.”

In second grade, Karena’s Spanish tutor introduced her to baking, and she initially practiced baking before segueing into cooking. The first time she made cookies, she followed an online recipe word for word.

“[The cookies] were edible at least, but they were just way too dry, not sweet enough,” she said. “That’s the trial and error process. You start working with this [basic] outline that someone else gives you. It never turns out the way you prefer it to be. As I progressed, making it over and over again, you learn to adapt to different styles, what you want, the personal taste that you like. You start reaching out of your comfort zone, and that’s how you make a good meal in the end—by choosing the spices, the flavors that you like instead of what someone else gives you.”

Besides experimenting with cooking, Karena also dabbles in music arrangement. Though her piano teacher mainly gives her classical pieces to practice, she enjoys playing preexisting arrangements of soundtracks.

“Sometimes, there might not even be an already-made arrangement, and you have to make it yourself and figure out what the notes are by ear or by listening to the music,” she said. “That’s where there’s a lot of freedom for my own expression to intertwine with the music.”

Having heard Karena play classical music for the majority of the past 10 years, her mother, Xiaoying Xu, notes Karena’s interest in contemporary music.

“We as parents enjoy the music as well,” she said. “Every time we watch Karena’s recitals, we are very proud of her. I thought Karena [appreciated] classical music. However, I often hear Karena trying to explore new keys in creative jazz tones and crazy rhythms. She expresses herself in imaginative ways.”

Typically, Karena will first create an arrangement of 20 seconds of the soundtrack she has chosen before transcribing another 10 seconds at a later date. After she finishes these segments, she mashes them together to form one song.

“It’s sort of like my own piece,” she said. “It usually never turns out perfect; there’s always going to be a little bit of discord, but it really represents me. I made it from start to finish, and all the mistakes that are in it are also unique to me. You can add your own little snippets of variations, your own melodies, your own modes into the music and play around with it. It becomes a very fluid form of expression that just defines me and how I want to hear the music and my perspective. It’s not really influenced by any set rules.”

Karena describes cooking and arranging music as two hobbies that give her freedom to “play around and not really be limited by anyone else.”

“Life should have variation,” she said. “It’s boring to live every day, day to day on the same schedule. You should always do what you really want, live by your interests and have fun instead of living by this rigid standard.”