Spooky Stories Turn To Smiles
The National English Honor Society members at OLLA are turning their Halloween writing into happy faces for the patients at the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.
October 25, 2021
Early October, the National English Honor Society members in collaboration with student-led organization, StoryTimeSmiles, began creating Halloween-themed videos in support of turning the usually spooky day into one full of smiles for the patients at the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital.
“The Spooky Story Contest was created in order to promote literacy in a fun and creative way,” Founder of StoryTimeSmiles and senior Sofia Tapanes said. “This way you allow for knowledgeable people, who know how to read and write, to practice their writing skills and teach other people these basic necessities of life.”
This contest, judged by the National English Honor Society Board, allowed for members to truly showcase their writing and creativity.
“I really enjoyed analyzing the videos and seeing how imaginative all the girls at OLLA are,” NEHS Vice President Carolina Vazquez said. “I definitely believe that this should be something the honor society should continue for years to come.”
Students happily utilized their vivid imaginations while making these out-of-the-box videos for children in need.
“I decided to include a light-up pumpkin from our Halloween decorations, wear a witches’ hat, and read the story with the lights off in order to make it spookier,” junior Kate Ortiz said.
The idea of writing a simple story could be considered unknown in the OLLA lifestyle, yet students enjoyed the need to go back to their roots.
“I hadn’t written a story like this since, probably, middle school so it was a nice break from writing serious, analytical papers in school,” Ortiz said.
The Spooky Story contest participants’ videos are being shown at the Nicklaus Children’s Hospital the last two weeks of October.
The winners of the Spooky Story Contest are juniors Natalie Gonzalez and Gabriella Paredes with honorable mentions to juniors Sophia Caram, Katie Bilbao, Ana de Cardenas, and Olivia Rodriguez.
