Aashna Miharia kept a secret for a few years that even her closest friends didn’t know.
The Winchester High School sophomore loves to write, and a few years ago started on a journey to become an author.
“People just might not know that I get really determined to do things,” she said. “If I start something, I will never leave it unfinished. I’m pretty strong-willed.”
Aashna recently published her first book, In Their Heads, which has sold nearly 100 copies since it became available on Jan. 19. The story’s main character, Gwen, has supernatural abilities and faces a choice between goodness or greed.
NJ students: Mount Saint Mary Academy students held Winter Coat Drive
MyCentralJersey.com
At Mount Saint Mary Academy in Watchung, members of the H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People Everywhere) Club, the Peer Ministry program and the Student Council held a Winter Coat Drive for St. Ann s Franciscan Soup Kitchen in Newark. Donna Toryak, director of Admissions and H.O.P.E. Club advisor, said the collections boxes were overflowing and the surrounding bags contained coats, hats, scarves and gloves for adults and children. The Sirianni family, including graduates Olivia Sirianni, Class of 2011, and Kate, Class of 2019, are volunteers there and alerted the school to the urgent need for winter wear at St. Ann’s.
Each year, students from across the Ketchikan School District test their skills in a bookish battle.
The Battle of the Books program is presented through the Alaska Association of School Librarians. Each spring, AASLA releases a list of books tailored for student participants in kindergarten through 12th grade, and the students have the majority of the year to read all the books on the list.
Then, in the fall, at the beginning of the next school year, students form teams and engage in âbattlesâ (of) involving trivia about the books with other students from competing teams in their same grade bracket.