I wake up, push my blankets to the side and step onto the cold, wooden floor. I glance at the pile of cardboard boxes full of books and posters that I’ve neatly organized in one corner of the room.  As...

Every November 4th, my mom and I blow out candles for someone I've never met.  The kitchen always feels empty when we get the cake out. My mom gets the bright colored candles from the party drawer...

I’m pushed through the sluggish crowd on the way to the main gym. An ensemble of instruments can be heard from outside the doors while chatter from the crowd tries to drown it out. I’m pushed into...

[vc_row][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text disable_pattern="true" align="left" margin_bottom="0"] Spring cleaning? More like shoe cleaning[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width="1/2"][vc_column_text...

“Hey, I need you to do me a favor,” I told one of my only good friends in my gym class, just days before my final week of being a Cougar. “Sure, anything,” she said. “I need you to look out...

I’m a good actor. I can be a jock, a journalism nerd, a video production geek, a bowler, a wannabe frat guy, a musician, a hipster, the list goes on and on. Just name the part and I’ve probably played...

On the first day of high school, I was terrified. I was coming from a Catholic school that I’d been attending since preschool. I’d been with the same 75 students for nine years, and that was all about...

Why do we go to school? Is it to make us richer as people, to train us for society, to train us for the workforce? What are we supposed to get out of an education? New perspectives, a “good” grade,...

For nearly my entire high school career, I have been just about the closest thing to Peter Parker you could find: shy, nerdy, a little bit of a loner. Did I mention that I am also a photographer? Something...