Gabe Akers (Lima Central Catholic) Gabe is a sophomore and is on the JETS, Mu Alpha Theta, and Science Olympiad teams at school.

Allyson Allman (Lima Central Catholic)  Allyson plays varsity tennis and participates in Competition cheerleading. She also enjoys sketching, painting, and art in other mediums. Allyson hopes to attend college and continue with her artwork. She was inspired to draw "The Living Room" by a rainy day.

Adrian Anaya (Temple Christian) Adrian plays on the varsity volleyball team and is a varsity cheerleader. She enjoys taking pictures and sketching. She plans on attending the University of Findlay and majoring in Nursing. Her art was inspired by her favorite things.

Paige Apkarian (Shawnee) Paige runs cross country, track, plays softball, and dances competitively. She is on the honor roll at school and enjoys her art classes more than any other classes. She plans to major in Dance and/or Art in college.

Natesha Bankston (Lima Central Catholic) Natesha loves to sing and dance and is on the Auxiliary team. She is currently looking at a couple different schools for Nursing and Music. She wrote her poem as a reflection of how most people view the world because of how the media perceives it.

MacKenzie Beverly (Shawnee) Beverly is very interested in classic films and reading. He has a passion for writing and hopes to be a novelist and screenwriter. He is inspired by the literal act of imagining, the things our minds can conjure up and replace reality with, and our desperate hold on delusions to make more of the lives we have.

Hope Bowman (Elida) Hope plays soccer and is running track this year. She used to play softball and basketball. Hope loves playing sports and hanging with her friends. Her plans are to attend The Ohio State University and major in Biology. She is going Pre-Med because she wants to become a surgeon. Her love for her family and life in general inspired her to write her poem.

Janina Bradshaw (Lima Central Catholic) Janina enjoys singing and performing in concerts and plays. She also plays first singles on the girls' varsity tennis team. Her hope is to go to the University of Chicago and study Psychology and Criminal Justice. Janina was inspired to write her poem by a play she was recently in about the loss of loved ones.

Richard Brodbeck (Lima Central Catholic) plays on the varsity football team and enjoys reading.  He will be attending Butler University next year and majoring in Computer Science and playing football for Butler. He was inspired to write his story because he could go in depth and show the horrifying aspects of torture.

Rachel Bryan (Lima Central Catholic)  Rachel enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She hopes to continue on to college after high school and become a pediatrician.

Alex Buersmeyer (Shawnee) Alex is the president of the school's Art Club, and art and literary magazine, Avatar. Alex plans to attend either Columbus College of Art and Design or Columbia College Chicago, majoring in Advertising Art Direction and possibly minoring in either Fashion Design or Photography. The work is inspired by thoughts and feelings.

Mandi Caskey (Shawnee) Mandi is a devoted art student. She plans on attending CCAD (Columbus College of Art and Design) to major in Fine Art.

Madison Cohorn (Shawnee) Madison participates in cross country, swim, and track. She wants to get into OSU, but is not positive what she wants to do there yet. She paints in her free time, and likes painting things in nature.

Kaley Core (Spencerville) Kaley's hobbies include playing soccer and softball, cooking, reading, playing the piano, and singing in her church's Praise Team. In the fall she will be attending The Ohio State University, majoring in Agricultural Engineering. Her inspiration for her work came from a trip she took to Montana with her Mom and Grandma.

Holly Davis (Lima Central Catholic) Holly is on the cross country, swim, and track teams at her school. She also participates in choir, Bravo dance, and school plays. She hasn't decided on the future yet, but is considering going into Forensic Science in college. She was inspired to write her poem from the TV show and book series Vampire Diaries.

Amber Dee (Shawnee) Amber enjoys singing and photography. Her plan is to attend the OSU-Lima campus for two years and then to transfer to another school. She hopes to major in photography, and once she finishes at the Lima campus, she wants to find out what to do for a career. Amber's photography is inspired by everything and anything that catches her eye. She loves taking pictures that are creative and different.

Claire Dieringer (Lima Central Catholic) Claire is currently a junior at Lima Central Catholic. She participates in varsity basketball, cheerleading, and varsity cross country. She also enjoys dancing and plans to major in dance in college. The attempt to break free from social stereotypes and bad influences in life were the inspiration for her poem.

Lauren Diglia (Shawnee) Lauren plays soccer and enjoys starting new art projects.  In the future, she plans to become a pediatric nurse, but art will always be a part of her life.

Olivia Dubois (Shawnee) When Olivia was younger, she dreamed about being an astronaut and an artist. Currently, she's gone the art route. Although she is majoring in Radiology, she plans to continue making art throughout her life. After graduation Olivia plans to volunteer in foreign countries. She looks forward to learning about other cultures first hand and having that new knowledge reflected in her art.

Zach Ellsworth (Lima Central Catholic) Zach is a freshman at Lima Central Catholic and enjoys wrestling and running cross country.

Nicole Fairburn (Shawnee) Nicole is a varsity cheerleader for football and basketball. She enjoys writing poetry, drinking exotic tea, and doing yoga. The inspiration for her poetry comes from the beauty in the world around her.

Meagan France (Lima Central Catholic)  Meagan plays on the varsity soccer team and enjoys reading. She plans to major in Psychology and minor in Journalism.

Alyssa Gable (Delphos St. John's) Alyssa plays on the varsity soccer team and is also in the marching band.

Cami Gossard (Lima Senior) Cami's passion is writing, and she plans on majoring in Journalism. Her hope is to attend Ohio University or Indiana University.

Precious Grundy (Lima Central Catholic) Precious plays soccer and also enjoys photography. In her spare time she practices piano, writes poetry, and hangs out with friends. When she graduates from high school she plans to major in OB/GYN Nursing and minor in Photography and Psychology.

Devan Guagenti (Lima Central Catholic)  Devan is a junior at Lima Central Catholic and has been dancing at the Dancer by Gina for the past 14 years, studying a variety of types of dance and assisting two dance classes as well. Her hope is to go on to major in Biology.

Whitney Hall (Lima Central Catholic) Whitney plays on the girl's varsity basketball team. Some of her hobbies include bowling, reading books, and writing in her free time. She is currently undecided on a school and a major, but does plan on attending college. She was inspired to write her poem because of a kid at school she recently befriended.

Teniya Hicks (Lima Central Catholic) Teniya is a freshman at Lima Central Catholic and enjoys participating on the Speech Team, Student Council, and in band.

Tiffane Holovack (Apollo) Tiffane loves photography and is a music fanatic; she loves classical music. Tiffane has a 2 year old; she plans on going to Rhodes State College for Radiology. She is 18. She loves pretty scenery and has quite the twisted imagination.

Ashley Hook (Spencerville) Ashley played on the varsity volleyball team and loves to read. She is attending Otterbien University in the fall. She wants to earn a doctorate in Physical Therapy. Ashley was inspired to write her story because she wanted to share the experiences she and her family shared together and how it brought them closer together as a family.

Emily Hunt (Shawnee) Out of all her hobbies, Emily is definitely the most obsessed with theatre and moviemaking. She is in the drama club at her school and also participates in the local community theatre. She also writes in her spare time, as well as reads, dances, writes music or draws. She never met a form of art that she didn't enjoy, and doesn't know what she'd do without some kind of creative expression. Her dream would be to be involved in making movies. She would like to write scripts, direct or act, or a combination of those. She doesn't know if she'll "make it" as in make enough money to fully sustain herself with film, but she knows she wants to be making films. Even if they are veeeeeery indie. What inspired her poems were herself at the time and her world at the time. The poem "A Lovely Game of Chess" was brought on by school studies on war and the semi-anarchist political viewpoints at the time. (And she says "semi" because anarchists tend to be associated with violent acts and she saw, and still sees, that as hypocritical. Forcing people not to force people into doing things is pretty counter-intuitive.) The poem "Glass" came about due to the struggles caused by her protective ego. She was having some pretty vivid dreams at the time as well, which inspired her to write a poem that felt like one.

Nicole Joseph (Lima Central Catholic) Nicole is a sophomore at Lima Central Catholic and enjoys golfing, dancing, singing, playing piano, and acting. She was inspired to write her poem from the survival stories of the Titanic and the emotions of the people who had to leave their families behind.

Michael Kahle (Lima Central Catholic) Michael plays on the varsity soccer and tennis teams. He hopes to attend college and major in Engineering once he graduates. He was inspired to write this story because it amazed him when he learned about the World War II paratroopers and what they went through.

Jessica Kimball (Lima Central Catholic) Jessica is on the honor roll and enjoys participating in singing and performing-arts-based activities as well as tennis and bowling. She is a senior this year and really enjoys spending as much time as possible with family and friends before she goes off on her own.

Shelby Kirwan (Lima Central Catholic) Shelby plays guitar and is very interested in music. She would like to go into the Forensic field, or become a Veterinary Technician. She would also love to become a photographer. She was diagnosed with severe clinical depression about one year ago, which inspired her to write the poems over the topics she has chosen.

Robin Klaus (Elida) In addition to playing doubles on the Elida varsity tennis team and working for the school's athletic department, Robin is involved in Latin Club, Junior Optimists Club, Student Council, HOSTS (elementary tutor), National Honor Society (4.0 gpa) and being a server at Sunday mass. Her interests include art history, literature, euchre, and other cultures. In college Robin plans to major in English Education and Literature and participate in a variety of study abroad opportunities. With this background, she wants to serve in the Peace Corps and, ultimately, move abroad and teach English as a foreign language. Her work has been influenced by her passion for travel, music, art, and literature.

Stephanie Lamoreau (Lima Central Catholic) Stephanie is a sophomore at Lima Central Catholic High School. She enjoys cheering for her school's football and basketball teams, as well as dance.

Jordan Lockwood (Shawnee) Jordan has always enjoyed art since childhood and was always fascinated by fireworks at the Fourth of July. Jordan received a camera a few months before the photo was taken, and hopes to attend The Ohio State University after senior year.

Aimee Lugibihl (Temple Christian) Aimee attends Temple Christian School where she is involved in cheerleading and, recently, track. She plans to attend Bluffton University in the fall. Her post-secondary writing classes at Bluffton have inspired her to write again, and her writings stem from this reawakened passion.

Emily Lugibihl (Temple Christian) Emily enjoys cake decorating, photography, drawing, painting, working on her farm, 4-H, being involved in the fair, raising pigs, acting, preforming, singing, and playing in both pep and concert band. She plans to attend college this fall and major in Marketing and minor in Art.

Nick Magoteaux (Shawnee) Nick enjoys writing and music. His future plans are to play music as a full-time profession; if that hits the fan, he plans on attending the Ohio State Beauty Academy for cosmetology. Most of his writings start as lyrics and are re-worked into poetry.

Claire McConnell (Spencerville) Claire is a class officer and a member of the National Honor Society, Student Council, Varsity S Club, and the Art Club. She plays basketball and runs cross country and track where she has earned four varsity letters in each sport and has been a captain for each.  She is also very active in 4-H. One of her favorite projects is sewing. Sewing through 4-H has taught her life lessons and has also inspired her poetry.

Shannon McKarney (Bluffton) Shannon is President of her senior class. She plays varsity softball, and is in her 4th year of art. She is attending The Ohio State Lima next fall, majoring in Biochemistry. Eventually she plans on being an optometrist. With her art, she wanted to do something different and decided to draw everyday items that look like body parts and fit them together to make a body.

Corrine Metzger (Delphos Jefferson) Corrine plays soccer on the varsity team and enjoys writing. She hopes to continue her success at Jefferson High School so that she can attend a college that will fit her needs.

Shelby Moeller (Spencerville) Shelby loves being behind the camera more than anything. She enjoys coming up with new, fun ways to express her thoughts and feelings. What inspires her to take pictures is that she someday wants to become a professional photographer.  She is an active member of the Art Club and FFA. She hopes to attend CCAD in the fall and major in Commercial Photography.

Matt Nalley (Lima Central Catholic) Matt runs cross country and plays in the school's marching and pep bands. Next year he hopes to attend Bowling Green State University, but his major is undecided. He was inspired to write his story because of his love for history.

Heather Nester (Shawnee) Heather is a senior at Shawnee High School and is getting ready to graduate and become a freshman at the University of Cincinnati. At Shawnee High School she is the co-president of the Art Club and Avatar, the school's literary magazine.  Heather plans on majoring in the field of Sociology so she loves the idea of people and life, an idea portrayed in her artwork.

Lacy Pellegrini (Bath) Lacy participates in 4-H and gymnastics. She also has a job in a restaurant. Lacy takes college classes at the Ohio State Branch through a post-secondary program at her school and plans to attend The Ohio State University after high school. Her future plans include becoming a sociologist, psychologist, or algebra teacher. In her free time she likes to see her friends, read, and write; especially poems. She started writing poems at the end of last spring and realized how much stress it relieved. She also realized how much she loved writing them. Her poems are inspired by the events, emotions, and people in her life. Writing poetry is how she copes with sad situations in her life, and it makes her feel better.

Adrienne Pohl (Shawnee) Although she doesn't have as much time for it as she'd like, writing helps keep Adrienne sane while swimming, running, and attending school—activities which commandeer her life.

Teresa Pohlman (Delphos St. John's) Teresa is an active member in the band and loves to write. She hopes to attend college and major in Accounting. She was inspired to write her story because she came to the realization that no matter what your material possessions, the most important thing is love and support from your family.

Chris Radebaugh (Elida) Chris is a long distance runner and swimmer, and participates in cross country, swimming, and track. In addition, he enjoys almost anything involving music or writing, and performs in several school and district sponsored bands as a percussionist. His hopes are to either attend Berklee College of Music to become a professional session drummer, or attend The Ohio State University to major in Music and Creative Writing. The inspiration behind his story is the capitalization of music, and the conflict between choosing a useful and stable career path or one which he truly desires.

Jessica Recker (Delphos St. John's) Jessica plays basketball, golf, trumpet, and plans on playing soccer next year. Her future plans are to go to college and major in Finance while minoring in Creative Writing. She was inspired to write "Beauty Living Upon Earth" from her love of nature, and wanted to include her favorite color blue. She was inspired to write "Come Back Camelot" by her current reading of Arthurian Legend stories.

Samantha Rex (Shawnee) Samantha plays volleyball and works at Applebee's. She plans on attending The Ohio Academy Paul Mitchell in Columbus, Ohio. Samantha has always loved photography, and just recently started doing her own after having purchased a good camera. All of her photos have some meaning or feelings behind them.

Mandy Rhoad (Temple Christian) Mandy plays basketball and volleyball. She was inspired because art makes her smile.

Madison Risser (Shawnee) Madison is a junior at Shawnee High School. She played volleyball and is a part of her school's Art Club. She loves her art class and her teachers make it even better. Mr. Krawetzke made her love photography and art. She doesn't know where she wants to attend college but knows that she always wants to have art in her life.

Brianna Roby (Lima Central Catholic) Brianna enjoys drawing and singing. She likes to write poetry because it allows her to express emotions and feelings she has freely.

Todd Rode (Delphos St. John's) Todd runs for the cross country team and also bowls in a league on Saturdays. He hopes to go into the technological field. All the fantasy books that he's read inspired him to write his story.

Daniel Rohan (Lima Central Catholic) Daniel is a freshman at Lima Central Catholic High School and enjoys playing basketball and football. He also is part of the Student Senate.

Sarah Rohan (Lima Central Catholic) Sarah plays on the varsity soccer and track team.  She thoroughly enjoys photography and hopes to enter into the medical field in college.  She was inspired to write this story because this is her story. This is what happened to her during her freshman year of high school.

Cody Rollins (Shawnee) Cody plays football at Shawnee and bowls every Saturday. He wasn't really inspired to take the pictures; his mom had just purchased a new camera last summer and he was bored so he walked around and took some pictures, and when he went places he took pictures.

Anne Roof (Shawnee) Anne enjoys drawing and painting. She loves any and all classes that she takes. She plans on going to Rhodes and then to Ohio State Lima to major in Early Childhood Education. She got the inspiration for her project because she likes Andy Warhol's work and, as for the subject matter, she wears Chuck Taylors every day.

Sarah Roof (Shawnee) Sarah attends Apollo Career Center where she is a senior in the Marketing Management 1 program.  She wants to be a graphic designer. Since she is in the Marketing program, she is able to learn the marketing side of graphic design. Sarah enjoys creating art. It's part of her life every day.

Emma Rostorfer (Shawnee) Emma is a freshman at Shawnee High school and is currently not in any sports. She enjoys writing and drawing. She wants to get involved in photography, and hopes to attend The Ohio State University after high school, but is not sure what she wants to major in yet.

Melissa Rower (Lima Central Catholic) Melissa likes to drive around, cruising with friends and jamming to the Backstreet Boys. “Home” is about how she'd rather be without all the material things, living outside, than in a big fancy house. She loves to be outside once it's night.

Taime Scheithauer (Spencerville) Taime plays in the high school band and enjoys long distance running. She would love to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. She was inspired to write this one day after reading several Edgar Allan Poe stories.

Mark Schoenhofer (Lima Central Catholic) Mark plays on the varsity soccer and tennis team as well as competes with his school's quiz bowl team. He plans to attend The Ohio State University, majoring in Biochemistry. The inspiration for his work came from listening to A Prairie Home Companion while driving one Sunday.

Devon See (Bluffton) As a Bluffton High School student, Devon is involved in several things. He enjoys taking photography as a class, he is the editor of the high school yearbook, and he is involved in the Post Secondary Option. Next year he will be attending the University of Cincinnati where he will be pursuing a career in nursing. His pictures were inspired by the places around him. Devon loves to drive and just think of what his surroundings would look like in a picture.

Darian Shaw (Shawnee) Charcoal, watercolor, and graphite are Darian's main mediums. Darian plans to attend the University of Art of Chicago to major in Art Education, is inspired by complex scenes and objects, and prefers light, intense colors for paintings.

Stacey Sherrick (Shawnee) Stacey plays on the varsity basketball team and enjoys hanging out with friends and watching movies. She plans on attending a four-year college. The art submitted was completed for a class.

Jennifer Shimp (Spencerville) Jennifer is a senior at Spencerville High School. She currently cheers for Findlay Elite and is a catcher for her high school softball team. She hopes to attend Bowling Green State University in the fall. Jennifer also plans on becoming a pilot. She was inspired to write this poem from the pink ribbons she wore in her shoes to support breast cancer during the month of October. She transformed her pink laces into the pink laces of a ballerina.

Morgan Smith (Lima Central Catholic) Morgan is a freshman at Lima Central Catholic and wrote this fictional story because she liked the idea presented in the movie Bedtime Stories.

Samantha Stose (Delphos St. John's) Samantha participates in track and field at her school. She also enjoys writing and photography. She plans on attending The Ohio State University for Pediatric Nursing with a minor in Art. Life experiences, family ties, and a love of nature inspire her works.

Amber Strahm (Bluffton) Amber enjoys art. She plans on attending the University of Cincinnati next year for Graphic Design.

Elvira Tatarkov (Bluffton) Elvira participates in various clubs at school, tutors fifth graders, and is on the yearbook staff. She hopes to attend Ohio Northern University next year and major in Biochemistry. She was inspired to paint this picture by the soft glow of candlelight which illuminates facial features nicely.

Maranda Taylor (Lima Senior) Maranda was inspired to write this personal narrative by her mother, who always looked forward to Maranda's high school graduation.  Maranda wants to go above and beyond her mother's expectations. She plans to attend Rhodes State College in the fall and major in Nursing.

Nicole Thomas (Lima Central Catholic) Nicole plays on the varsity volleyball team. She plans on attending a university after high school and majoring in Business Management.

Jarod Ward (Temple Christian) Jarod is active in photography, art, martial arts, piano, music and choir. He plans to continue to work hard and push himself in all areas. He was inspired to paint by landscapes from books and then created one of his own. He enjoys dusk, so that is why he painted that time of day.

Mariah Welch (Bluffton) Mariah plays varsity basketball and volleyball. She loves her teacher who inspires her in her artwork and makes it very enjoyable.

Janeece West (Lima Central Catholic) Janeece loves to read, write stories, and play basketball. Her favorite hobby is reading. The career choice she is focusing on is to become a psychiatrist, although she is keeping her options open. The inspiration for writing poetry comes  from personal problems at the time or from problems of her friends and family.

Jessica Whitfield (Lima Central Catholic) Jessica is a freshman at Lima Central Catholic High School and enjoys playing percussion in the marching, concert, and pep bands. She also enjoys playing the piano during the school Mass.

Samantha Williams (Lima Central Catholic) Samantha is a dancer and a runner. She enjoys reading in her free time. She eventually hopes to go to Columbus and attend The Ohio State University. Her creativity led to the piece of work she has written.

Kathleen Wreede (Delphos St. John's) Kathleen is a spirited young lady intent on being a Musical Theater major, or a Missionary. She is active in all the musical programs at her school, and volunteers her time with others when she can. Kathleen enjoys photography when she has a free weekend.

Rileigh Zickafoose (Lima Central Catholic) Rileigh is a football, basketball, and competition cheerleader at Lima Central Catholic and loves her team. Her passion is dancing. This is her fifteenth year dancing at Lyn's Academy of Dance, and she hopes to attend college to pursue her dream of being a dance teacher. Rileigh loves children and felt called to write a story on the issue of bullying, but also to include a child that is specially gifted with autism.