How Smiling Helps Me in Life

A few times a week, I make the hour-long trek from my home in the suburbs to my fencing school in West Philadelphia. As I drive to practice, suburban towns slowly fade into red and brown brick row homes, until all around me are [...]

I am breathing heavily, not from fatigue but simply the anticipation of exhaustion. My heart beats fast, waiting for the sharp pierce in the air. Finally, the gun fires, and I see fifty pairs of legs begin flying, and soon [...]

Why was the Fatimid Empire so important? Did al-Khwarizmi really invent Algebra? Who were the Zoroastrians? Each week, the walls of Room #2 witnessed my chubby face transform into a tomato as my religious education teacher [...]

I belong to a secret community, one where nobody has seen another’s face or knows the other’s name, yet we still support, motivate, and learn from each other. I belong to NerfHaven, an online community of “Nerf Modders.” As [...]

During the art camp’s Bead and Wire Sculpting class, a fish-shaped frame with wires running across it caught my eye. “Carly, what’s this?” “An earring holder,” the freckled girl announced. “But I want it to stand up.” We [...]

The sun set, while a blend of indigos, rich plums, and the deepest blacks carpeted the sky; headlights lit up the parking lot as crowds entered what is normally a Jewish temple, but for the night was the Belmont High School Art [...]