A folding chair sits in a gray-toned living room. Evening light filters through the windows. Lilting melodies begin to swirl through the air, rich with vibrato, delicate yet powerful. The modern space fades away, the walls taking on the warmth of a wooden veranda, the overhead lights glowing like red lanterns and the rug shifting into cobbled stone. At the heart of it all, senior Bella Chen elegantly plucks the strings of her guzheng, her white sundress stark against the ancient Chinese landscape she has painted with her music.

Even sitting in her own living room, Bella transports listeners into an entirely different world with her command of the strings. At three years old, she started playing the guzheng, continuing until high school because it had a sound and style that no western counterpart could imitate. Now, Bella not only plays guzheng with the Stanford Guzheng Ensemble, but also the violin in Harker’s orchestra. 

“Guzheng is very different compared to Western instruments,” Bella said. “In the past, there was no written record and no music score for teachers to pass on to their students. What I play is based on my own interpretation, and it’s very free flowing. I get to express myself through the various beats and rhythms.”

Although Bella appreciates the individuality of the guzheng, she struggled to reconcile her dual cultural identity while navigating the worlds of both violin and guzheng. Each instrument symbolizes a different aspect of herself, and she often felt obligated to pick between the two.

“There are times in my musical career where I’m caught between the two cultures: guzheng and violin,” Bella said. “When I was a kid, during multicultural affairs in my old school, they would ask me to play an instrument. Part of me was ashamed to say that I played the guzheng because I was at a predominantly white school, so I would always choose the violin. But as I grew up, I’m not ashamed of it anymore. It’s not something that I’m scared to show other people.” 

Last summer, Bella was invited to play at Hong Kong’s International Music Festival, a once-in-a-lifetime experience that helped her to fully embrace her cultural identity. Now, she extends a similar confidence into all her endeavors. Close friend senior Aryana Bharali observes that although Bella was quite reserved when they first met in fourth grade, she has blossomed into a self-assured, driven individual.

“She tends to be shy when you first meet her, but she became more open about herself and is able to show herself more,” Aryana said. “She’s more willing to go out and take on whatever she wants.”

Though Bella’s drive originated from playing the guzheng, her family played a crucial role in directing her passions. During Chinese New Year parties, Bella’s mother would encourage her to invest her red envelope money, introducing her to the concept of investing at a young age. As she grew older, her parents’ stories inspired her to use her knowledge to help address social inequalities.

“My dad came from a very rural place in China,” Bella said. “He would always tell me how there were educational inequalities in that area, and I’ve combined that with my interest in business. I’m trying to go down a more social-impact path where I apply business to various sustainability or social policy aspects to alleviate different inequalities and disparities.” 

In her sophomore year, Bella joined EduNATION, a startup founded by Harker students that develops custom educational courses for companies and nonprofits, where she worked on designing courses in AI and data tagging for underprivileged students in India. Through her work, Bella hopes to address and bring light to societal issues that are prevalent in various communities.

“I want to understand for myself the causes behind these inequalities and ultimately use this information to then take action during college,” Bella said. “In the future, diving into different social policies and inequalities around the world is something I want to pursue.”

Economics teacher Dean Lizardo encouraged Bella to pursue independent research in her junior year after recognizing her dedication to econometrics — a class that typically only seniors take. He commends her commitment to seeking out valuable data by combing through data sets to find statistics that are not only relevant but reliable. 

“What’s really resonated with me is how she’s taken the initiative to do a lot of work with regards to finding something interesting about education and inequality,” Lizardo said. “It’s really hard to find meaningful data on which to run regressions. I can tell that Bella has put in a lot of work. When I look back, I’ll remember Bella the most for the amount of dedication that she put into making this project.”

Bella approaches all her endeavors with diligence, as growing up in a Chinese household and attending Chinese school imbued her with core values of Chinese culture that continue to shape her personality and ideals.

“The values that Chinese heritage brings, like respect and perseverance, describe the person that I am today and are always values that I try to adhere to,” Bella said. “In Chinese culture, there’s this value of respecting your elders and respecting your peers, so I would describe myself as someone who isn’t afraid to help the people around me.”

Close friend senior Hasini Namala appreciates that Bella engages in any conversation with no judgment, listening with empathy and empowering her friends to feel open in her presence.

“I love how I can always talk to Bella about anything,” Hasini said. “She’s always been there for me, and she’s the type of friend that I can literally call whenever and she’ll be there to talk to me. I never have to put on a persona when I’m with her. I can be myself.”

Whether it be performing her instruments or analyzing data, Bella brings enthusiasm and commitment to all her pursuits. She aims to empower her friends and everyone around her through her own experiences of gaining self-confidence and discovering her own passions.