Colorful expressions of Charger creativity

By Sarah Perez Nov. 12, 2025

Saturated with color and bursting with motion, Freshman Bayleigh Toth’s edits—10 to 20 second clips of characters synchronized to music—have enthralled almost 30,000 followers. What began as a personal hobby has become a success for Toth. Her most viral video on Tiktok reached half a million likes, and her other uploads average 800 to 2,000 likes.

“I remember starting this account in 2021. After my last account with 8000 followers was banned, I thought I would never reach that number again. It feels great when one of my videos goes viral. I do not mind that others have been less successful, as this is my ultimate just-for-fun hobby,” Toth said.

Portrait of Toth

Inspired by a character or song, Toth begins to plan. She takes a nontraditional approach. Instead of physically mapping her frames on a canvas, she prefers to visualize the colors and movements to music. After two to six hours of work, Toth uploads her result, a maximalist blend of the “mograph” (motion-graphic) and “candy” (poppy movement with bright colors) styles that were popular when

Toth started out. One of her main inspirations for starting her hobby was an account called Blueakrasia. Although Toth considers her style to be different from that of Blueakrasia, she started with hopes of emulating the account’s complex transitions and “tweening” (the generation of frames to create motion).

Toth usually uploads one or two times a month, as her healthy balance of hobbies and a social life does not leave a lot of time for commitment to editing. Toth’s creative process is heavily dependent on motivation, as she produced almost no edits in 2023 due to burnout, but uploaded around five a month in early 2022. While a long YouTube video or podcast can help prevent her from veering off task, Toth does not feel a need to force her creativity.

“I love watching what I make. Sometimes, I wonder how I even do it. I enjoy spending even 20 minutes creating something out of shapes for a two second clip. One time, someone said my edits reminded them of a baby sensory video, because of eye-catching colors and visuals—it is a fun way to express my ideas to the public,” Toth said.

Ni teaching at Origami Club

Sophomore Serena Ni also spreads her creativity in a slightly different way. She packages and sends her expression of colors to organizations as volunteering for various causes. Paper cranes, roses and hearts are among the folded creations that Ni teaches students as the president and founder of the school’s origami club.

Ni began her journey into origami at a young age, learning to make small paper stars from her mother. Motivated to explore more patterns, she continued to improve her skills with YouTube tutorials and crease patterns found online.

“As a kid, I was really interested in how math could be applied outside of school. I like figuring out how the shapes come together, so I work to understand each step instead of just following along. Folding takes a lot of patience, with experimentation and mistakes, but it is really satisfying when the final model is completed,” Ni said.

Ni's paper hearts

Now, Ni explores more complex folds like dragons in her free time. She sits down at her desk to fold a few times a month, whenever she has extra time or the motivation to make something calming. Making origami while listening to music or between homework breaks helps her reset her mind, but focused origami is not without its challenges. According to Ni, the hardest part is being precise and patient, but it is always worth the effort to create something she is proud of.

“Origami helps build patience and attention to detail, while serving as a creative outlet that does not require expensive materials or special skills—just paper and time. Sometimes, I get frustrated with mistakes on folds that can take hours. Still, the challenge is what gives me great satisfaction in finishing a complex piece,” Ni said.

To Ni, teaching origami requires patience, because of the repetition needed to demonstrate and fix folds. Still, Ni recommends origami because it not only stimulates the brain but also provides deeper meaning. While teaching peers to fold, Ni helps them distribute their creations to hospitals, care centers, and other awareness campaigns—a small pop of color that can bring joy to someone’s day.

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About the Contributors

Sarah Perez

staff writer

Sarah Perez is a sophomore Staff Writer at Leland High School. Some of her hobbies include figure skating, reading, hiking, and sleeping.

Annika Hegde

photographer

Annika Hegde is a Junior at Leland High School and a photographer for The Charger Account. In her free time she enjoys playing card games, singing karaoke with her friends, and working on robotics.