My teammates were hugging and crying on the turf. I wanted to cry, too — we had just lost the state semifinal. I would never get to play with the same team again; our season was over.  I’d been...

I pull into my carport with blurry vision, tears streaming down my cheeks. My dad suddenly yelled that I was getting too close to the basketball hoop in our driveway. I panic, hitting the gas instead of...

One year ago, I embarked on a ski trip with a group of friends to Whitetail, a ski resort outside of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. During the hour-long car ride, we discussed our expectations for the trip....

I never understood how to talk to kids.  Most people could do it naturally, but it never came to me, and I had difficulty forging relationships with children. I figured my best bet was to avoid them...

Last summer, my cousin visited me during his summer break from college. He showed me a picture of him with his roommates, but the photo was in black-and-white. I asked him what was wrong with his phone,...

On the first day of school, I never knew what to say when my teachers asked what I did over the summer. I didn’t have anything worth sharing. My summers were all the same: I would witness my peers galavanting...

In early 2019, partway through fourth grade, I went out with my family for sushi, which was not an unusual occurrence. Unbeknownst to me, my parents were figuring out how to break some news. That day,...

Growing up, I thought there was no way a high school Spanish class could ever challenge me. As a Colombian with parents from Bogotá and Spanish as my household language, I was confident in my language...

As soon as I heard the ring of the school bell on a Wednesday afternoon, I raced to the cubby corner of my classroom, snagged my backpack and waited impatiently at the door for my teacher to dismiss me....

As dawn spreads across the sky, a dim room awakens with the sweet aroma of freshly baked treats and the laughter of families gathered around cramped dining tables. Eid al-Fitr, “the feast of breaking...

It’s 4:00 a.m. on Sunday, and I’m wide awake. Not because I can’t sleep or because I’m worried about an upcoming test, it’s because I have my computer and notepad beside me as I watch college...

In first grade, I loaded into a “Minecraft” world for the first time on my mom’s computer. I’d already spent countless hours on YouTube watching other people play the game, and I was bursting with...