Writing

Audrey Trinen ’26 Margaret reaches her hand through the ice-cold water, viewing the glistening pearl just below the surface of the pale blue ocean. Yet another beautiful bracelet was brought to her by the ocean. Carefully wiping off the sand sprinkled on the piece of jewelry, Margaret lifts the dainty bracelet and places it onto…

Jaden Sequeira ’29 He behaved just like any other teenager: he wore jeans and sneakers, played video games, and had fun with his friends. But today, he is known as the world’s first millennial saint, using the internet as a tool to spread God’s Word. Saint Carlo Acutis is a role model for young people…

Francesca Roy ‘26 Red, Hot Pink, Light Pink, Purplish, Fuchsia, White, sometimes Orange. Representing love, the journey you have been on with a person, and the passion you have for them. A simple gift showing your dedication to them.  It’s the name of the group I am leading on my Young Women’s Retreat—a retreat where I will show young women that they…

Emma Noble ’29 Love is..  The moon cutting itself in half so that the stars can shine that much brighter.  The trees making shadows that stretch so that flowers can grow and thrive around them.  The brown leaf’s falling to make room for the new pink petals.  The dark grey clouds and the bright blue sky learning to share the atmosphere so that we…

Matthew Riley ’26 The ocean is unrelenting. It never gets tired, and it does not care whether or not you do. It will pull you under without care and never spend a second thinking about it. While its waves can be relaxing when small, whooshing over a shore, most of the time, they create fear,…

Ruthie Nelson ’26 They say sunsets show that there can be beauty in endings, I am not sure if I exactly agree. Nevertheless, sunsets have always been my favorite, In fact they were yours too. As the ending of each day is shown with beauty, I feel that ours should be shown like that too.…

Balin Meza ’26 I came back to school after Christmas break, excited to see my people, carrying the fact that it was my last one as a kid  The day before, I helped my older brother move into his dorm at Western Washington, a place I’ve never seen, but somehow felt familiar  There is a beauty in knowing a new chapter is starting    When I stare out the…

Millie Matthews ’26

Madi Martelino ’29 When you’re a teenager, you start to realize you’re at this place where you’re not a kid anymore, but not an adult. You’re at a bridge you can only cross over once. Every heavy step you take is moving farther away from the bright nostalgia of your carefree childhood, and closer to the busy world of endless expectations as an adult.    While you walk, you start to…

Meghan Lauinger ’26 I wake each morning to the same gray skies;  I wake each morning to the same clouds’ cries;  The rain won’t stop pattering, and nothing ever dries.  Bundled in four layers, but I’m still not hot; Bundled in four layers, wishing I was in a sunny spot. It’s cold as an igloo; winter’s worse than I thought.  The trees are like skeletons, stripped of their life; The trees are like…

Hebron Kahsay ’26 The Vietnam War, which lasted from 1955 to 1975, was the first widely televised and photographed war. Often referred to as the television war, it was held responsible for increased public distrust of the government (Mandelbaum). The photographs and media painted imagery that questioned the morality of war, thus bringing the brutal…

Hayden Downer ’26 There is a small, green plant, always sitting on my windowsill, that keeps turning towards the light. I must constantly remind myself to rotate it every day, so it does not grow unevenly, but somehow, I always find it in the same direction again. I praise the plants certainty because it always…

Win Chandler ’26 Being at the mountain is its own kind of serenity that serenades you in its own simple sounds: the the click of your boots, the zipping of your jacket and the indescribable clap of your skis hitting the snow. The cold settles deep in your chest and makes every breath feel like…

Anthony Caso ’26 Remember the crackle of unending machine gun fire ripping through flesh. Remember the sizzle of caustic gas burning through empty holes that were once eye sockets. Remember the brutal screams and bloody howls through the nights that you couldn’t have possibly slept through. Remember why you’re here: the many men you slaughtered…

Xavier Abenojar ’26 I still see myself at the free throw line. Taking deep breaths. Dribbling once. Twice. But before shooting, I drop the ball and let it bounce away. I listen closely as the ball continues to roll out of sight. For a split second, I’m in control.   I was clueless at first. It had black and orange skin.…

Mason Beckett ’27 A Grandfather Tree stood alone in a naked field covered with blankets of white snow. Old tree stumps lay buried in the ground like rotting brown teeth. Icicles clasped onto sagging arms of the wrinkled Tree whose beautiful leaves had fallen long ago. A frozen wind danced obliviously around the Tree, rattling…

Kate Smith ’28 Some days the world keeps moving fast,   while I just sit, let moments last.   No lists are crossed, no plans are made,   yet still I rest beneath the shade.   My shoes are dusty from the hall,   my backpack leans against the wall.   The clock ticks on, but I don’t mind,   I leave my rushing far behind.   The air is warm,…

Klara Willis ’28 I am the endpiece.  I hold everything together,  But I am never picked.  A hungry hand reaches out.  But yet again, they grab me,  Only to move me, and grab the  Perfect soft middle piece that everyone wants.  I am in the way.

Kate Smith ’28 Happiness is a deer—   soft-eyed, alert with fear,   listening close for the sound   of wanting drawing near.   We learn early how to chase,   to track it down through time and space   Through milestones and places   When this happens.   When I’m more.   When I finally arrive.   We run so hard toward someday   we forget how to be alive.   We mistake speed…

Kate Smith ’28 Before I am gone, tell them that I was never simple.That I lived in contradictionsand learned to breathe there. Tell them I noticed things early—how light leaves before it disappears,how people love in fragments,how joy and grief can share the same sentence. Tell them I learned suffering is not what shapes you,but…

Shakira Seneviratne ’26 Like shadows into my cave, their mirth slick with hunger. sheep-thieves, wine-suckers, men who called me a beast for protecting what’s mine. I offered them shelter in stone and fire, but they muttered thanks into echoes, drank my milk, broke my bread and named it heroism. Their leader spoke with a serpent’s…