Blake’s class of 2026 boasts a number of newly published authors. Eighth graders Rhea Balachandran, Jayla Ferguson, Lorraine Pidot, Maggie Souvignier, Shoumili Tarafder and Alysa Wu were all winners in the 2021 Kindness Contest for Teen Ink, a website and national teen magazine devoted entirely to teenage writing, art, photos and forums. The students wrote their essays as part of a reading and writing unit on the memoir genre presented in English teachers Erica Boulay-Ali’s and Rachel Godlewski’s classes. 

Click on the author's name below to read each essay.

"The Test" by Rhea Balachandran
"Scoliosis Brace" by Lorraine Pidot
"The Little Girl" by Maggie Souvignier
"Sweets, Treats, and Other Things that Matter When You're Young" by Shoumili Tarafder
"The Exactitude of Kindness 2021" by Alysa Wu