By Travis Wu
If Arielle Nguyen had a superpower, it would be the ability to defeat any blank page with a single, perfectly crafted sentence. Remember that not all heroes wear capes. She is instead armed with a keyboard and a deep passion for words.
When faced with the prompt, “What three words best describe you?”, one could bet with a high level of certainty that her response would be her signature phrase: “How dare you”. Out of all the witty comebacks and clever phrases in her arsenal, these three words are her signature go-to weapon, perfectly shutting down any nonsense.
Nguyen added Baron Banner to her ever-expanding list of activities last year to pad her desire of writing. It’s like she’s a perpetual notebook in the form of a human, jotting down mental notes during school dances, friend conversations, and even in those riveting school lectures. No matter the occasion, her passion for writing is always apparent. As a matter of fact, she couldn’t hide her excitement to attend Gina Carbone’s AP Psychology class.
“I’m really looking forward to AP Psych because of the teacher. She’s really fun to talk to … and she has this very unique diction that I admire,” Nguyen said.
Humble beginnings often lead to great things, and Nguyen is living proof. At a young age, Nguyen faced an all too familiar challenge to any scholar: peer pressure. Not the kind of peer pressure that involves any illegal business, but the academic kind that makes you question if you’ve read the entire textbook or just skimmed the chapter.
“Growing up, I always based myself off my peers because they were always smarter than me. So I was like, I’m gonna get smarter than them, and then I’ll prove myself to them,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen did not fail to prove the doubters wrong and is now known as what people today call an “academic weapon”. Taking on a 0-7 schedule, Nguyen challenges herself with a gallery of rigorous courses and aims to achieve an outstanding 5.0 weighted GPA in her junior year. But academics aren’t her only focus. Nguyen also loves scrapbooking and capturing the world through paintings and photography.
“It stems from my mom because she likes scrapbooking. She gave me all of her supplies when I was like nine so I just kept doing that … It allows me to track down the memories I make with my friends,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen uses her artistic and writing talents for scrapbooking, creating vibrant collections of photos, diary entries and, of course, memories.
“I believe that life has meaning that you put into it … that meaning is making memories and making an impact. So through scrapbooking, I record those memories and these memories include stuff I do to benefit the community,” Nguyen said. “I volunteer for two organizations, and I do it because I want to help people become more literate”.
Other than her academic accolades and writing passion, Nguyen also holds responsibilities in FVHS’ marching band and color guard.
With all these activities, Nguyen has big goals. In the next few years, she hopes to attend a University of California school. Looking even further ahead, she envisions herself as a well-known author, with bookstore shelves lined with books by “Arielle Nguyen.”
What does Nguyen want future students to take away?
“You only get one life. Live it how you want, within reason. You never know when your last day will be, so live each day as if it’s your last,” Nguyen said.
It’s a fitting mantra for Nguyen, who fills her days with purpose and captures every memory in her scrapbook.
While most people say a picture is worth a thousand words, for Nguyen, her words are worth a thousand pictures.