My name is Fiona Liu, and I attended Mountain View High School from 2019-2023. I was a Freestyle Academy student from 2021-2023. I plan to attend University of Southern California for film and television production, graduating in 2027. My hobbies include filmmaking, photography, and walking at an extremely rapid pace. I enjoy the process that goes into creating films, I love the collaborative aspect, and playing with all the facets that make a shot perfect. I was the president of the Video Production Club at Mountain View High School, which I started in my freshman year after noticing that there weren’t any other clubs or classes like it at MVHS. I was also a part of MV Helping PAWS, a club dedicated to educating and helping animals in the community. I was a photographer for SLAM Magazine, along with a few fellow Freestylers.
Cats are my favorite animal. My very own cat, Banana, is quite lazy during the day, though once it gets dark out, her mischievous spirit reveals itself. Once the door opens, she flees, going outside for what I can only imagine to be hunting practice and communication with other felines. She’s actually returned with a large, juicy rat once or twice. She doesn’t care much for interacting with those other pesky neighborhood cats during the day. All the interactions I’ve seen have been hostile. Some nights she stays inside, especially during those chillier months. She sleeps on my bed, finding some comfort in the cozy blankets.
In my life, I try to empathize with other people, and see things from the perspectives of others. I often seclude myself from others, due to shyness and tend to be left out of things. I never want others to feel the same way, so I try to include others as much as possible.
Outside of school, I wasn’t too busy. I manage my club, shooting different types of videos and short films. Sometimes, I liked to go outside to take photographs of nature, animals, and other subjects that I came across. I got into portrait photography, my subjects becoming the people that I spent my time with. On rare occasions, though far more common during the quarantine, one might have caught me quickly walking or biking around Los Altos and Mountain View. I walk at what most people may consider, an usually fast pace. Though I can assure you that it is a perfectly normal pace, and I am soaking in the view and relishing the fresh air.
At school, the other classes I was taking outside of freestyle are all AP courses. The workload might be a lot, but it went okay. Procrastination seemed to have been somewhat of a problem.
Freestyle definitely challenged me to be more creative than ever before. All of the projects that we get to do and the media we analyzed really made me think and will stick with me for the rest of my life. I grew as an artist and a person throughout my time at Freestyle, creating works that I wouldn’t have done without the support of my peers and teachers.
Work
Link to some of my work: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeHQeiBScjx_eZYZGmfCdWrKfxJAZmRu8