By Sydnie Sabbarese
While scrolling through Instagram one day during her Freshman year, Natalie Tran saw Baron Banner’s account recommended to her and decided to check it out
Tran was deeply impressed and intrigued by the many unique articles she saw. What really struck her was the amount of effort and personal touch that seemed to go into each piece of writing.
“I had been keeping up with Baron Banner’s stories [for a while],” Tran said. “I wanted to be a part of the organization that wrote them.”
She eventually decided that she would apply for the class when the application was released and was chosen to be a part of Baron Banner’s staff the summer before her sophomore year.
Before joining Baron Banner, Tran wasn’t particularly interested in writing since she had only written about topics she wasn’t interested in for school assignments. She eventually became more invested in the art as she began writing her own articles about topics she genuinely cared about and were appealing to her and expanding her skill set.
“Baron Banner has helped me so much, in more ways than one. Prior to [joining Baron Banner], I’d never even heard of the Oxford comma or parallel structure but now, I’m more knowledgeable grammar-wise,” Tran said. “[Baron Baner] also helped me expand my writing and pushed me out of my comfort zone, and I can now write for different categories.”
Outside of Baron Banner, Tran is active in quite a few other extracurricular activities. This year, she serves as secretary for the Model United Nations club and as co-activities chair for Save the Children. Tran is also active in the club Joni’s Angels. Though she can’t attend in-person events for these clubs due to COVID-19, she still tries to participate in as many of the online events as possible.
Along with all of the extracurricular activities she participates in, Tran often finds herself busy with school, especially as she’s taking her first AP class this year: AP European History. Despite her busy schedule, however, Tran tries to find time in her life to do things she enjoys to take off some of her stress.
“In my free time, I like to watch movies with my family or play the piano,” Tran said. “My free time is usually very limited, so those activities are kind of like an escape from studying. I especially love playing the piano whenever I can, and it gives me lots of serotonin.”
In the future, Tran says she will likely pursue a career in the medical field, as it’s what her parents have been recommending her to do, but overall she sees herself doing whatever makes her happy in the end.