This story was born from a desire to capture the beauty of life at its simplest, emerging from the things we all take for granted, and ending with the gentle caress for death.

I wrote this piece to focus on how time can slow down in certain moments.

This story is a longer version of what I had originally written.

These two poems show two really interesting parts of my life.

Growing up, I’ve come to love the stars and the sea; two unknown realms, with less than half explored by us humans.

Maya Raveneau-Bey is a senior at Oakland School for the A

This is my manifesto for a government structure of type democratic meritocracy codenamed Oligardenia.

Raw feeling you get after something major just happened.

This is a poem written in the traditional Persian Ruba’i form.

In my creative writing piece, “Red,” I explore the profound emotional connections we have with colors, using red as a powerful symbol of my mother.

I wrote this piece to express the feeling of being stuck on the treadmill of winning and being the best.

Regret and guilt are major themes that I wanted to tackle with this excerpt.

This poem was inspired by a poem titled ”Where I’m From” by George Ella Leon.

A poem about purpose, the line between that and identity, and the dangers of blurring that line.

When I was writing these poems, I was thinking of all that was going on in our world today. Innocent people die daily and I find that a very important topic.

This poem is about the black people minority. It is a topic I feel strongly about and find no better way than to express it in a poem.

This was an assignment for creative writing in my 9th grade class.

A collection of poetry that portrays my Asian heritage and odes to my parents.

For me, turning seventeen was an awakening: an illuminated liminal space between childhood and adulthood, simplicity and freedom.

I remember being alone through the experiences I went through.