Francesca Aleonar

International Studies: Linguistics

Marshall College

Senior Nickname: “NTS Kyudo Alchemist”

2021-2022 UCSD Archery Competitive Team Member

As a transfer student during the COVID quarantine, Francesca didn’t have much time with the club. She joined in 2020, but only had about a month or so of practice before quarantine and vaccine mandates forced her to stay home. However, once she was able to come to the field more and actually practice, Francesca became a core member of the team, competing as one of our barebow members on the mixed team during the outdoor season and the female barebow team when we could field one.

During the pandemic, Francesca started archery as something to do to get outside and have a little fun while doing it. So, she started taking lessons at a local archery range. Once Francesca came to UCSD, her mom saw a flyer for SGA advertising the workshops, and encouraged Francesca to join. Once she joined (and could actually come to the field), Francesca found her place on campus. As a commuter student, Francesca didn’t have many options to socialize, so joining this club gave her an opportunity to make new friends and get outside.

One of her favorite memories that she made during her time with the club was when she became a prophet… of a rubber chicken. Dubbed “Sun Gallo”, the rubber chicken became a sort of meme among the club members. Mostly because of the squawking sound it would make when squeezed (and the obvious annoyance it caused many of our club members), a lot of our members began to start worshipping it. She won this rubber chicken during our Halloween shoot, in which she won a prize and got the rubber chicken. She’s actually quite thankful to the rubber chicken, as she states that it helped her to start socializing with the club more.

Francesca isn’t only interested in the archery that SGA offers. For her birthday in 2021, Francesca also began taking classes on Kyudo, traditional Japanese archery. The members of the Kyudo club she took classes from made fun of her for her background in western archery (particularly dropping her bow), as Kyudo bows can be upwards of $2,000.

After graduation, Francesca plans on taking a job on campus and applying to language programs in Japan such as JET. She states that she will definitely continue with archery after college, though the form may change depending on where she goes. For at least a little bit, she will be finding a job around San Diego and plans to continue shooting with the club as a community member. We want to wish Francesca luck with whatever path she chooses to take and know that her positivity will carry her through whatever she faces.