In China, Carissa Chen played the piano, practicing hours a day while her parents danced. Then, on a flight to California, her mother told her they were getting a divorce and Carissa would be leaving her home in China.
“Piano was not the same for me. I couldn’t continue playing,” says Chen, now a freshman at Phillips Exeter Academy. “Instead, I started to practice painting and writing fiction stories. They became a creative outlet for me to explore and accept my sudden change in lifestyle.”