Nicole Meoni, a sophomore at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, considers herself a very happy, artistic and hard-working student. She loves to practice various art pieces, such as paintings and drawings, in her free time. Meoni first discovered her love for art in elementary school when she started drawing. 

While there are many art forms, the sophomore mostly appreciates painting and drawing. Art is very therapeutic to Meoni because it allows her to feel more relaxed. She creates art to express herself for amusement and relaxation.

“Art is a way for me to be creative. It is something that relaxes me and makes me feel calm,” Meoni said. “Art has helped me throughout life by being a creative outlet for me.”

Despite her love for art, Meoni has taken only two artistic classes throughout her life. In her freshman year at MSD, she took ceramics and has been practicing color guard since second grade. Ceramics helped Meoni to express her creativity and enhance her artistic abilities, while color guard continues to allow Meoni to express her artistic skills through various equipment, including flags, wooden rifles, sabres and swing flags. 

Meoni started practicing art for her own pleasure. She first started her artistic journey when one day she simply decided to start drawing for fun. Since then, she has been very involved in art and uses her free time to practice and learn new techniques. 

“Nicole has such a pure heart and she is literally the color yellow embodied as a person because of her happy and bubbly personality,” sophomore Camila Fraser said. “I absolutely love her drawings and I want her to do them more. She’s never failed to impress me and I just see that she has so much potential.”

Throughout the school year, it can be difficult for Meoni to find time to practice her creations due to color guard filling most of her schedule and her several homework assignments. Despite this, she still finds the time to practice art because it is important to her and very fun to do.

Meoni’s favorite art pieces are eye drawings and butterfly paintings. She finds pleasure drawing eyes because she enjoys making eye drawings as realistic as possible. She also enjoys painting butterflies because she believes that they are colorful and beautiful creatures. Meoni’s most recent art creation was a butterfly that she painted herself. 

“Nicole is quirky, funny and very aesthetic but in her own way. She’s always doing what she wants and she’s definitely not a follower,” sophomore Lauren Clark said. “She is very creative in her own way and I think that shows up in her art and that’s what makes her such a talented artist.”

Overall, art has continued to inspire Meoni since she was very young. It has allowed her to express her beautiful talent while allowing her to calm and relax herself as well.