During my second year of working with The Straight-Up News at Everett Middle School, I was paired up with a student who was tough to communicate with. She only scowled when I spoke to her and other volunteers shared similar stories of trying to work with her. I did my best to get her to open-up, ignoring frequent attempts to intimidate me. Finally, after she realized I wasn't going away, she began to talk. During our next couple of months working together we developed a rapport, though she always kept her cool and let me know she was just tolerating me. We finished her story for the paper and though she said little, I saw the pride in her eyes the day she got to read her words in print.

At the start of the following school year it turned out we had some students returning to the paper from the year before. My tough-nut reporter was among them. Our volunteer coordinator told the returning students that if they had a favorite 826er they'd like to work with on the first issue, let her know now. To my shock and amazement the reluctant writer jumped up, called out my name, and shot me a big grin. I couldn't have felt more honored if I'd been canonized.

– Charlotte Peterson