Luna Chen’s (C ‘26) passion for cooking emerged during COVID–19, when late nights of scrolling through YouTube cooking videos turned into hours spent in her home kitchen experimenting with new recipes for her family. Drawing inspiration from YouTube cooking creators, Luna brought this hobby to Penn, joining the entirely student–run dining pop–up, every now & then, where she helped create curated, home–cooked dinner parties for students across campus. Fueled by a genuine passion for food, the club became a defining part of Luna’s Penn experience and cultivated lasting friendships. Beyond the kitchen, Luna built a close–knit community through SPARK and on the women’s club volleyball team, connecting her with students both within and beyond the computer science community. Whether she’s perfecting clay pot rice recipes, building apps in Spark, competing on the volleyball court, or exploring the Philly food scene, Luna is always seeking out new ways to connect with those around her.
Name: Luna Chen
Hometown: San Jose, California
Major: Computer Science and Cognitive Science
Minor: Consumer Psychology
Activities: SPARK, women’s club volleyball, Penn Appetit, UPGRADE, MUSE, CIS 1600 teaching assistant, every now & then
Can you tell us about your experience running a student run dining popup experience, every now & then?
Every now & then is a student–led dining pop–up that started in spring 2024. We basically host five monthly dinners for groups of 10 to 12 people. We create our own menus, R&D everything, and then bring it out to the table. We ended up with a staff of around eight people and hosted the dinner parties in someone’s apartment, which brought a very homey feel. I was mostly on the marketing side. Ethan, who started the club, told me later on he actually wanted to make me a chef initially. Ethan and I met through another club, SPARK, and through that, he knew that I knew how to cook. That was my major involvement sophomore and junior year, and we discontinued it when all the seniors left. I was quite sad about that.
Every now & then was one of those student–run projects where it was really fueled by passion. If we did not like what we were doing, it would be something that’s very hard to maintain. I feel like in most projects, I have to be the one that takes the lead. This was one of the only projects where everyone was so motivated that I felt like, if I don’t work on something, I would be lagging behind. Every now & then showed me that there’s some passion projects that actually can be successful. I’ve had previous experience trying to start something. For example, I tried to start an Etsy shop in high school, but I was also working with one other person, and eventually it felt very much like a task to do and it ruined our friendship a little bit. So I was very apprehensive coming into college doing a passion project with my friends, but in the end, it ended up working really well. Even at the very start, Ethan told everyone that this is going to be a passion project and we’re not going to earn any profit from this. This is all going to be done so that we can let our friends enjoy a special experience. That’s how it started and how it ended.
I really appreciated Ethan and everybody on staff for creating this experience for me.
Is there a specific memory from every now & then that sticks out to you?
My favorite memory is actually when we did a collab with Princeton and Yale. We traveled all the way to Yale, and we were able to cook with all the chefs and then bring dinner to everyone there. I feel like traveling with a group of people is already really special. We also paid for most of it through the profits that we earned. And at the same time, I think we made pretty close friends. It was a special memory where we were able to bring our shared interest across different schools, not just within our school.
What is your cooking origin story?
I started around seventh or eighth grade. I first started with baking because my parents didn‘t want me around the fire. During COVID–19, I had to do everything at home, including eating lunch, so that’s when I started learning how to cook. I remember one of the first things I made was a chicken thigh and spaghetti, but the chicken thigh was raw and pink inside. I was feeding it to my sister and she was like, “Do you think this is raw?” And I was like, “No, just eat it.” I think that was one of my first memories of cooking when I was young. My dad is really good at cooking, but he always cooks the same thing, so I think eventually it started tasting a little dull to me, and that’s why I wanted to try something else out and find my own recipes.
What is your favorite dish to cook at the moment?
Right now I love making Hong Kong style clay pot rice, it’s really easy. It takes around 20 to 30 minutes. You can put whatever you want on it. I usually put Asian sausages and also something called Là ròu, a dried pork belly, and also shiitake mushrooms.
Can you tell us about your involvement in SPARK? What inspired you to get involved?
I came in as a cognitive science major. I didn‘t know too much about computer science at all, other than taking the AP Computer Science course in high school, but I knew I probably wanted to end up in STEM and most likely computer science. Joining SPARK my sophomore fall was something that started helping me form that community in computer science, as well as teaching me how to create projects for industry instead of just for school work. I joined SPARK Blue, which is the learning track, while SPARK Red is more technical.
When I first joined as a SPARK blue member, we went to a lot of weekly classes where they teach you the basics of how to create simple apps. After a year, you graduate, and then you turn into SPARK Red. SPARK Red is essentially where you create projects, whether it’s from clients or you make it yourself. There’s usually a project lead that leads those projects. I was a SPARK Blue member, a Red member, and then I led a project for one semester.
In SPARK, I met the closest friends I have right now. Three of them I met through SPARK onboarding and the other one, I was a teacher assistant with her and then she joined SPARK later on. We’re such a close–knit group and I really appreciated that SPARK gave me this opportunity to meet people that I otherwise probably wouldn’t have ever known. I think because of that, despite seniors no longer being a part of SPARK anymore, I still try to do coffee chats with freshmen to help them with their college experience and if they have any doubts. I always want to be a resource for them because that was what SPARK was to me, especially when I was a sophomore. So many seniors and juniors were so nice to me. I think SPARK also started off as a friend group. Even though that friend group isn’t there anymore, and that we’re more like a club than a friend group nowadays, I think people always say that SPARK has this strong community that maybe other tech clubs don’t have.
Can you talk about a meaningful community you found here at Penn?
I’m on the women’s club volleyball team. I’ve been on it since freshman year, and I’ve played volleyball since fifth grade, so for around 12 years now. The volleyball team is where I met a lot of people that aren’t in computer science. In computer science you take all the same classes, you know everybody, or know of everybody. It’s so tight knit that I feel like my college experience would be very monotonous if I only interacted with those in computer science. But I came to college because I wanted to get to know people from different backgrounds. On the volleyball team, we all come from a shared interest, but at the same time, there’s a lot of players who are pre–med, Wharton, and even some graduate students. I met people that I never would have seen otherwise. We started becoming even more competitive, and not to brag, but technically we’re number one in the Ivy League. Okay, to be fair, we basically compete at a higher level than all the other Ivy Leagues. I think volleyball, to me, was always such a social sport. It’s how I was able to communicate with others clearly and understand where other people’s perspectives come from. I feel like a lot of people, sometimes even in college, don’t really understand how that works. But I think because I played a team sport, it helped me learn how to do that. Also, my current roommate has been my volleyball teammate since high school. Volleyball is just a big part of my life, and that was something I appreciated being able to continue in college.
What has been one of your proudest or most rewarding experiences in college?
Being a teacher assistant for CIS 1600. In high school, I worked for a group called Friends of Children with Special Needs and I would teach cooking and math classes for them. Coming into college, I knew I wanted to be a teacher assistant, no matter what subject, no matter where. As a teacher assistant for CIS 1600, I was able to help students who were experiencing the same struggles I‘ve had in the past. I wanted to contribute to a community that helped me. I feel like in SPARK and as a teacher assistant, I was able to help people and influence them in a positive way when they were struggling.
What are your favorite ways to spend your free time?
I watch a lot of food YouTube videos. I also love to cook. I used to crochet, though I don’t really anymore. I also play video games.
When you reflect on your time in college, is there a specific moment or memory that stands out?
A memory that I will probably remember for a long time after college would be when I met my friends during SPARK onboarding. During onboarding, I walked up to someone who I thought was in the club and started talking to her. Her name was Katherine. Around the same time, we were told we’d be playing soccer for about an hour. We ended up meeting two other girls, Joyce and Angie, who had known each other before college. Somehow the four of us became goalies together. I just remember that being my very first memory of meeting them. I feel like I always knew that I’d be close with them, which is pretty rare, and not something I usually feel when I meet someone for the first time, especially a group of people.
What’s next for you after Penn?
I'm doing the accelerated master’s program, so I’m going to be here for an additional semester. But this summer, I will be in Palo Alto, Calif., for an internship at MongoDB.
Are you excited to spend another semester in Philly?
I am pretty food motivated and this senior year I’ve been going to different restaurants and trying them out. My goal is to try enough restaurants so that I won’t regret leaving Philly. I feel like I’m almost to that goal already. Since I’m only going to be here for one more semester, I don’t think I need that much more time. By the end of it, I’ll probably feel ready to be done with Philly.
Lightning Round:
Favorite tv show? Korean Food War
No–skip song? “I Know You” by Faye Webster
Early bird or night owl? Night owl
Top 3 spots for food near campus? 1. Mawn 2. Cafe La Maude 3. Tabachoy
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go? Switzerland
Favorite YouTube cooking creator? Best Ever Food Review Show
There are two types of people at Penn… Those that eat the left side of a Kit–Kat first and those that start with the right side.
And you are? I always eat the left side first!
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
