By Rebecca Do
A football field at 9 p.m., illuminated by its bright stadium lights. A crowd wailing and on the edge of their seats, a pole connected to gold satin flies through the air, to be caught by one Arielle Nguyen.
Sophomore, color guard member and now Baron Banner writer, Arielle Nguyen is ready to wave a new flag in her latest endeavors as a journalist. Nguyen applied to Baron Banner as a writer, and her origin story is ever so relatable to the average Internet surfer.
“I’ve been writing since a really young age and especially during COVID [because] I was stuck in my room all day. So I thought, ‘I guess I’ll just look up writing prompts on Tumblr or something and just start writing based off of that,’” Nguyen said.
Despite being just a sophomore, Nguyen is incredibly thoughtful and artistic, and also has an incredibly unique way of seeing the world. Her room and the hallways of her house are decked out in paintings, canvases — art. As of late, Nguyen is experimenting with oil and acrylic paint.
Painting is a form of escapism to Nguyen. And to run away from the mundaneness that is Orange County suburbia, Nguyen seeks to paint nature and scenery.
“Fountain Valley is very suburban, and I don’t like it here. I walked outside today and I saw my neighbor’s plants. They would die and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really sad. I guess I’ll look at my paintings and feel better,’” Nguyen said.
When she’s not sketching, she’s spinning as a member of the Fountain Valley Royal Regiment. More specifically, Nguyen takes on the role of flag captain in the color guard section: the ones who do the heavy lifting in the visual effects department of marching band.
“[Color guard] is a performing sport that combines things like flags, rifles and sabers. And we typically give an interpretation of dance to the marching band music or other forms of songs,” Nguyen said.
She’s a forest fire who sets ablaze all creative mediums she can get her hands on; Nguyen excels in both fine, visual and performing arts. And much like the way she freehands her flags and spins her sabers, Nguyen is also quite the intellect, wanting to put her thoughts and feelings about people and society onto paper.
“I feel like I can introduce a new perspective on [issues]. I’d like to shed some light on it. A lot of things can be looked down upon, but I feel like if I write about it, people will understand the different perspectives that come with it,” Nguyen said.
By now, you’re picturing the sophomore art aficionado Arielle Nguyen as a modern day renaissance woman, who hones her multiple crafts through practice and trials and tribulations. But Nguyen is also the type of person who, when the teacher leaves the room, immediately switches to a tab with Tetris or Minesweeper on it.
Nguyen, is the type of person, who when asked “how would you describe yourself in five words?” would answer, “Oh my god. How dare you,” and only give you three.
Outgoing, extroverted, and friendly: Arielle Nguyen, ladies and gentlemen.
If she’s not spinning silk or painting portraits, she’s listening to Lauvey; Nguyen is a huge fan of soft bossa nova, but enjoys jazz as well. If she had to pick an album to listen to for the rest of her life, it’d be the “Princess and the Frog” soundtrack.
In five years, Nguyen sees herself finishing her general education at a community college and then transferring to a UC (University of California.)
“I’ve been thinking about all of [the UCs]. I’d probably be the only person in my family to go to UC school. So I’d probably just use it to flex on my family,” Nguyen said. “I want to study like architecture or interior design was something to do with like buildings and stuff, not engineering.”
For now, Nguyen is busy as a new Baron Banner staff member, so the world of interior design will just have to wait.
“I’m excited to write articles and meet people. I’m also excited to wake up early in the morning to prepare myself for [when] I get a job and have to wake up early in the morning,” Nguyen said.