• Out of My Room and Into the World

  by Aster McNulty

  I have always been a homebody, even in elementary school. I went to the park after class with my friends, and to birthday parties. But I felt safest and happiest and most myself at home—the tiny, messy apartment I share with my parents.

• From Group Chat to Real Friends

  by Zi Qi Li

  Names have been changed. In 5th grade, I was diagnosed with selective mutism. Though I could speak comfortably at home with my parents and my twin sister Ada, at school I was completely mute. We were in different classes, but I’d stick by Ada at lunch. 

• I Had to Leave

  by Jorge Alvarez Lizardo

  It was November 2019, an ash-gray morning. The car smelled like gas. I was in a new school for 7th grade, and my mom was driving me there. Neither of us had eaten anything. I could tell she was stressed and angry.

• I Look, Therefore I Am?

  by R.G.

  Names have been changed.  It was the day of my friend Amanda’s bat mitzvah. She was more of a recent friend, someone who, with my implicit permission, tended to degrade me on a daily basis. Nonetheless, I liked her, and at one of the final parties of the year-long bat mitzvah season, I wanted to look my best.  

• Hershey and Her Pink Castle

  by Israa Belbaita

  When I started middle school, there were a lot of things I didn’t like. I didn’t like the teachers. I didn’t like the building. Honestly, I didn’t even like the girl I saw in the mirror. She was quiet, self-conscious, and afraid of not fitting in. 

• How My Life Changed During the Covid-19 Pandemic

  by Elijah Charles

  Three years ago when I was 13, everything in my life was going well. I had social interactions every day at school and lots of recreational activities afterward.  I went swimming twice a week and practiced the breaststroke, butterfly, freestyle, backstroke, and was learning the sidestroke.