Welcome to the ASUPD Student Blog! We’re a dedicated team of writers eager to share our creativity, passions, and love for storytelling with you throughout this school year. It’s my pleasure to introduce our talented Student Blogging Team for 2023-2024!
Lead Editor – Celia Møller
(10th Grade)
Hi! My name is Celia and I’m the Lead Editor of the Student Blog. I’m currently in 10th grade and I’ve been part of ASU Prep Digital since 6th. I joined the blog last year and it’s been such a rewarding experience creating content and collaborating with my peers. I live in the town of Fountain Hills, Arizona. I enjoy exploring nature and finding peaceful spots to study, often at local cafés. Outside of school, I enjoy a range of hobbies—I’ve been playing the ukulele for three years now, and I love creating art, whether it’s painting, crafting, or working on digital design projects. Cooking is another thing I enjoy, especially making healthy vegetarian recipes! I also like to play soccer at my local park with friends as well as watch the sport on TV. Writing is something I’ve always enjoyed, especially when it comes to persuasive topics that focus on positive social change. I’m particularly interested in how advocacy and volunteering can make a lasting difference in our communities; I love exploring these themes through my writing! I’m very excited for this year’s blog pieces and to share what our amazing club creates.
Co-Editor – Taegan Hardy
(10th Grade)
Hello! My name is Taegan and I am a 10th grade student here at ASUPD. I live in Tucson, AZ, and I’ve been writing for Student Blog since my freshman year. I’m looking forward to writing about the things that I’m passionate about, such as short stories and anything else that piques my interest. I am a huge fan of Formula 1 and anything related to Horror. I’m also a ballet dancer so perhaps one day you can look for me in a production of the Nutcracker. I’m incredibly excited to start the club’s semester off strong!
Faith Jang
(12th Grade)
Salutations, my name is Faith Jang! I have been in the Student Blog since the 10th grade. I really love making all sorts of posts, but my authorship does not end there. In my free time, I pursue writing things such as poetry, short stories, and visual novels, while I also create beaded jewelry and animals. I like creating stories because it is so amazing to construct a world of your very own for the sake of enjoyment. With beading, I am capable of building cute accessories that can vary from a simple necklace to a complex flower headband. I also make three-dimensional animal models that are fun to create and pleasing to look at. With these animal models, I can create tales that consist of cool poses and a more visual aspect to storytelling. I believe this love for creating leads me to the path of Engineering, more specifically, Biomedical Engineering with a Mechanical Engineering degree.
It took me a long time to decide what engineering field I wanted to get into, but I found that Biomedical Engineering is the best for me. It can save people’s lives or help those with disabilities. For example, engineers in this field are most known for creating prosthetic limbs to allow people to walk again, but they can also create artificial organs or ventilators. This is the reason I want to go into this field. To me, it is both fulfilling and rewarding to witness someone’s life change for the better with my work. In a way, it is like seeing a story being rewritten more favorably, and changes like this are very important to me. Plus, this field also takes patience and being able to listen to others, which will give me a peek into vastly different outlooks on life. On the other hand, I am an inquisitive person, so getting a mechanical engineering degree allows me to explore a variety of career options in the future.
Rylinn Estes
(12th Grade)
Hi! My name is Rylinn Estes, but I just go by Ry. I am currently a senior, and this is my first year doing Student Blog! I live in Phoenix, Arizona, but I plan to move out of state for college next year. My favorite hobbies are crocheting and writing! Crocheting has been a big hobby of mine for a couple of years now, and I make a little bit of everything. From tapestries to bags to stuffed animals, I have made it all. Most of the time my work is given out as gifts to others, but I also ran a small etsy store for a while where I advertised my work. I still post on a social media account that I made to promote my business, but I do not often sell my work anymore. My favorite things to crochet are different styles of clowns in all different shapes and sizes. I would recommend learning how to crochet to anyone! It is very inexpensive compared to other hobbies and there are thousands of different tutorials online to learn! My other hobby, writing, is something that I have done for a very long time now. It started off with short stories as a kid, then I began to expand and experiment with my style of writing. I began writing pieces on social justice in 2020, which was something I loved doing. I have now shifted into real-world reporting on things that interest me. This includes things that directly relate to me, such as gender dysphoria and the sexuality spectrum, as well as things that may not directly relate to me that I still see the effects of, such as racial injustice or climate change. I have recently written reports of the fentanyl crisis in my county and how it affects different people. This is my favorite way to write, but I do occasionally write poetry or smaller works of fiction. I am very excited to be able to write for you all!
Denai Ivery
(10th Grade)
Hi, my name is Denai! I live in Arizona and this is my first year in student blog! I’ve been writing since I learned how actually, and I was always a fan of making my own stories. I’m passionate to write about a lot of things, but my favorite is telling other people’s stories and giving someone something to relate to. Even if I’m writing about witches and wizards or villains and superheroes, I feel that there’s a person’s story to tell. A few fun facts about me is that I enjoy filmmaking and have filmed and edited a few short films (for classes, nothing crazy). I also enjoy drawing, writing, and listening to music in my free time.
Daphne Green
(10th Grade)
I’m Daphne Green, 10th grader here at ASU Prep digital in Queen Creek/ San Tan Valley area. I love to crochet, and have just recently learned how to knit. My favorite hook size, yarn brand and stitch are 6.0mm hooks, Big Twist and Granny stitch! I also play volleyball. I “started” around the beginning of 8th grade, I started with a school camp, then rec league which was very helpful since it was just to get a feel for things and have fun. Freshman year I played Right Side Hitter and last year’s club season I was the starter Middle Blocker! My next position I’d like to go for would be Outside Hitter or DS. I don’t read, but I do love me some podcasts. My favorites are Rotten Mango, Crime Junkie, and Kaidan. I also love feel good 60’s music, Kanye songs, Tyler, the Creator, k-pop (NCT 127) and 2009-2019 radio pop as well as some occasional Pierce the Veil! I’m also the bass player of the band me and my friends are working on, “3RAMNESIA”, a fun little side hobby with my very best friends! For “style”, I try to do a “clean-girl” style but with more spice. I’ll do a slick-back bun, leggings, and then shake things up by throwing on an emo band shirt or crocheted sweater. I’m the oldest of 3, have two dogs, and am in my first year on the Student Blog! I never really liked reading until this school year. I shocked myself with the sudden interest. It mainly sparked when English was my highest grade for the first time ever! This gave me a little boost and now I’ve become plenty more comfortable with writing! I want what I write to make the reader feel less alone or seem somewhat personal and connecting.
Ashlee Dodd
(10th Grade)
Hi, My name is Ashlee Dodd, and I’m in the 10th Grade as a Sophomore, I live in Phoenix, AZ around Mesa I believe so, and I’m getting started on attending the Student Blog as a close late entry, but I’m excited to get started.
What I’m most passionate on writing about mostly are my short character stories and comic-strips I do as a hobby. And some fun facts about me is that I’ve been in the Art / Character Design field of personal art-work for about 8 years, soon to be 9! 😊, and I have an art-piece that was featured in the “Rambunctious Press, Volume 7 Issue 1” book that I’ve done as a freshman last year, representing a different HS before ASU.
Hobbies that I have and enjoy specifically which I think you can guess from what I’ve typed before hand is that I love drawing in the Art Field, not really much interested into the realism or landscapes type thing that most artists are, but I’m more into the character design and story drafts of my own personal work I create, which I only have one comic I’ve made so far currently, it’s going great and I plan on making more after I finish that one fully.
I like to listen to music sometimes, I believe my music taste is like a mix of alternative and indie rock. And I love making or getting gifts for family and friends, creating crafts and drawings for them makes me happy to see I can bring a lot of joy into their day, whether it’s their birthday or cheering them up the best I can whenever they’re feeling down one day. Overall, I can’t wait to get started on the work for Student Blog and meet my peers! 💕
Caitlin Cruz
(9th Grade)
Hello, my name is Caitlin Cruz, but you can also call me Cat. I live in Buckeye, Arizona, where the only thing I see everyday is sand. I’ve never been in a student blog before, but I am very excited to start! I’m a freshman in high school and am passionate about writing in all styles. My personal favorite, though, is creative free writing and informative essays. I am very excited to get to work on a student blog; my old school didn’t offer anything like this. I have written 3 different stories this year, each having over 2,000 words. All of these stories are creative free writes about romance. Two of them are for my friend about her favorite characters. The last one being about two girls that are in love. I use metaphors such as making one of them a “monster” to show how people look at lesbians. I like writing stories like this where I don’t call it out and just let the reader take it how they want. Also, I write scripts for animations that I create. A fun fact about me is that my favorite style of writing is persuasive writing, but my favorite style to write in is descriptive. When I’m not writing I like reading or watching a stream named “Ranboo” when I’m at my dad’s house. When I’m at my mom’s, I enjoy talking with her and watching Formula 1. Thank you for your time and I’m very excited to join the student blog!
Ysreal Hernandez
(9th Grade)
My name is Yzzy, I’m 13 years old and in 9th grade. My pronouns are She/Her and but some people mistake me for a boy because my hair is short. I have lived in Tucson, AZ, my whole life but I have visited Sacramento, Pinetop, Phoenix, and Flagstaff. This is my first year at ASUPD; I used to go to AZVA but decided to try something new. This is also my first year in student blog. I was part of Drama club but it wasn’t what I thought because of some miscommunication. I like to write fictional stories and my favorite type of writing is fantasy and coming-of-age realistic fiction. Also, I enjoy writing non-fiction about the dangers of social media, the dangers of fast food, and raising awareness about mental and physical disabilities. Some fun facts about me are that I skateboard, play some video games, have two kittens (Meowth and Zelda), and live to act in theater. I’ve played a witch for a play about monster therapy and Warren Peace in a play based on the 2006 movie, Sky High. When I was in elementary school, I wrote for Bear Essentials and have interviewed authors before. My favorite book series is Keeper of the Lost Cities and my favorite movie is Belle. My favorite band is Good Kid and my favorite Good Kid song is “Summer”. My favorite musical is Epic by Jorge Miguel Hernas. I want to be either an author, a voice actor, or a CPS worker when I’m older. I know some ASL and I have been learning Japanese; I also plan to start learning Korean. I just finished the book Boy in the White Room and Five Total Strangers. I really like singing and creating stories with my younger sister. I’m the 3rd of 7 kids, with a total of 9 people in my family.
