While visiting family in China over the summer, Karen Krause (12) spent each day in the same routine: visiting her grandfather in the hospital, teaching English to children at school as her summer job, spending time with her grandmother and visiting the local market. Throughout the month she was in China, Karen aimed to build connections with the students, particularly a three-year-old named Hodan. Since his family is of Korean origins, he mainly spoke Korean. Despite the language barrier between them, Karen overcame those struggles through gestures and games.

“On my last day, I was super upset that I was leaving, and he was hugging me and sitting in my lap, and that made me really happy,” she said. “I was like, ‘Hodan, this is my last day; I won’t be seeing you anymore.’ None of them can speak English that well, so he was just like, ‘What?’ in this really high pitched voice, and I just hugged him even tighter.”

Karen has been learning Chinese since freshman year, and she began studying Korean over the summer. While her goal in learning languages is to connect with people of different cultures, her interest in Chinese specifically stems from her own Chinese, German and Portuguese heritage.

“When I went to China, people were so happy and surprised that I could speak,” she said. “They’re like, ‘Wow, it’s amazing that you put in the effort’ because I don’t look super Chinese. I think it’s really great to surprise people and change their perspective from what they originally thought, like they think a white-looking girl probably can’t speak, and then I change that. I really feel like what made it worth it also was being able to speak to my grandparents more, being able to connect more to my roots and see the things that my mom has introduced me to and have a lot of fun with that as a kid.”

With both languages, Karen strives to improve her proficiency through self-motivated practice. She practices Chinese with her mother and listens to her own recordings for Korean.

“Sometimes, Chinese and Korean pronunciation definitely is not intuitive for English speakers, so that’s something I have to practice a lot,” Karen said. “It’s kind of more independent study, and no one’s really forcing me to do it, but I feel like those are the things I enjoy more, when I can choose what I want to do.”

While spending the summer in China, Karen found a job in Shanghai teaching English to Japanese, Korean and Chinese children. Each day, she took the subway alone to her students’ school and taught from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Since then, her curiosity for other languages continued to grow.

“They were just so cute, and I miss them so much; they were adorable,” she said, smiling at the memory. “I want to learn all those other languages, like those Korean and Japanese kids I worked with, too. I want to be able to communicate with them, so now I’m also taking Korean. Hopefully in the future, I can also take Japanese.”

Karen also works with children locally. Although she began by babysitting, she now teaches piano to a younger girl named Tiare, who she met through a Harker chat group. For the past couple of years, she’s gotten to know Tiare and her two younger sisters and acts as a role model for them.

“I’ve always grown up with older siblings, so they’re like my younger sisters, and I have a lot of fun with them,” she said. “It’s like an escape from school.”

Karen first became interested in babysitting and teaching piano during high school as a way to make money, but once she began her work with children, she began to enjoy her job more. Despite the time commitment and hard work required to tutor children, Karen considers it a way to unwind after a busy day at school.

“It’s really stress relieving because they have such a creative imagination that totally takes my mind off of whatever’s going on,” she said. “When I play games with them or when they want to talk to me about their life and show me what they’ve been creating, I find that so interesting.”

Although she turns to tutoring to relax outside of school, one of the other ways Karen destresses is through volleyball. While she first started playing alongside other sports in order to spend time with her friends, she eventually chose to continue volleyball. Since sixth grade, she’s played for the school’s team, but she later joined a club named the Clips.

“In volleyball, I might not always play all the time. I’m not a starting player, but I find that it’s just fun no matter what. Even if I’m on the bench I can cheer for my teammates; I’ll still have fun watching,” Karen said. “Same for piano, like if I’m not playing a piece that great, I just gotta put in the effort.”

Karen’s coach, Theresa Smith, noted her growth as a player.

“She was not necessarily on the radar as, ‘Oh my gosh, here comes this amazing volleyball player,’ but the greatest thing about Karen is, she just wanted to play, and she worked really hard,” she said. “As a coaching staff, we all recognized that just because she wanted it so bad and she worked so hard, she was able to make the varsity volleyball team.”

For the past six years, Katrina Liou (12) has been one of Karen’s close friends, and they started playing on the same volleyball together two years ago.

“She always brings everyone around her up,” Katrina said. “She always has a smile on her face, and she’s always willing to have fun no matter the situation, so even if we’re losing, she knows how to keep her cool and never takes anything way too seriously.”

Her enthusiasm extends to the classroom, too: her Chinese teacher, Dr. Shaun Jahshan, observed how she retained her fun personality while also being a serious student.

“She has high standards for herself,” she said. “Whenever we did a creative project, she would really get into it, act out goofy characters, wear costumes, go find locations, try to get everybody enthusiastic about it. She likes to have fun and make things fun and not just do the minimum.”

Whether working with kids or balancing academics, piano and volleyball, Karen has her own approach to managing her busy life.

“[I want to be remembered for] trying to make the best of every situation, not letting small things affect me, and always wanting to work hard and not give up,” she said.