My best friend and I planned this trip at the beginning of 2018 and began to work and save money to afford the trip (as I am a high school student who can’t casually drop $430 on a music festival on...

I had a normal life. Mornings filled with sleepy eyes and getting ready. Days of chaos and learning. Evenings with family time and laughter. Life was good. Until things changed. Mornings and days became...

My chest heaves and my eyes burn from holding back panic-stricken tears. The walls of my bedroom close in until I’m breathing back in my own choked sobs. My mind races, as it struggles to focus on too...

Stereotypes of a preacher’s kid are angelic, perfect, overprotected and quiet. If you ask my dad he would probably say loud, goofy and gives attitude from time to time. I’m not hesitant to tell people...

Throughout your life, you meet various types of people. Every relationship is temporary, but that is not a bad thing. You meet people for a reason; every relationship holds purpose. You learn from the...

I walk into the waiting room and grimace. A man fiddles with an e-cigarette and a lady smothered in tattoos engulfs the seat below her and a teenage girl drips in black clothing. They are the kind of people...

The earliest memory I have of the woman who gave birth to me is not even of the woman herself. I remember the stench of smoke better than I do her homemade cookies, and I remember the silent tears that...

I walk into my house, children run around and play. Crafts dry on the dining room table. A normal craft night for the children of my church and family. I walk into a room where a group of children play...

I prayed for this year to be different. I remember I sat in my church a few days before the first day of school and begged God to make this year so unusual. To make it such a drastic change from any of...

I will participate in just about anything to help me get in college. I focused on what colleges thought of me. I participate in JROTC, Newspaper, and a step team. I take advanced-level core classes which...