On April 20, 2024, Lester Middle School hosted its tenth annual all-middle school Writing Rally, a cherished tradition that has spanned over a decade. Founded by two dedicated teachers, Ms. Valerie Roshong and Ms. Hilarie Meadows, the event brings together up to six delegates from each of Okinawa’s three local middle schools: Ryukyu Middle School, Lester Middle School, and Kadena Middle School.

The Writing Rally is more than just a competition; it’s a celebration of creativity, expression, and the power of words. Over the years, it has become a highlight on the academic calendar, eagerly anticipated by students, teachers, and parents alike. The PTOs from all three schools also help support the initiative by providing prizes, lunch, cake, and snacks for the participants.

During the rally, students were provided with two prompts and 40 minutes to write about each topic. Then, students read each entry from their peers, ranking their top three favorites from each round. The first place winner, Kirra Aguon (8th grader, Kadena MS), walked away with a beautiful leather-bound journal and ink pen set. The second place winners, Julianna Aubin (6th grader, Lester MS) and Eliana Blom (6th grader, Kadena MS) each received a high-quality ink pen, a practical tool for future writing endeavors.

The Writing Rally fosters camaraderie among students. It’s a chance for budding authors to connect, share ideas, and appreciate each other’s work. 

Ms. Valerie Roshing, one of the event’s founders, expressed her pride in the students’ creativity: “Every year, I’m amazed by the depth and imagination displayed by our young writers. Their words have the power to transport us to different worlds, and I love reading about what they come up with each time.”

Ms. Hilarie Meadows echoed this sentiment: “The Writing Rally is a testament to the importance of literacy and self-expression. We hope it continues to ignite the passion for writing in our students for many years to come.”

Principal Ms. Veronica Finney of Ryukyu Middle School, who also attended the Writing Rally, praised the teachers and students: “I commend our students from across the district for their unwavering commitment to writing, particularly in an era dominated by texting. The eleven students at the writing rally not only exemplified their dedication but also mirrored that of the educators who guide them.”

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FIRST PLACE- by Kirra Aguon, Kadena MS (7A)

“Time is running out, sir,” my earpiece uttered. 

I only had seconds left to crack open the vault before security would put an end to my grand heist. I couldn’t stop now. I was so close…

“Sir, you have ten seconds remaining.”

I could hear my heart beating, pounding at the walls of my chest…5..4..3..2..click..1

“Great job, sir. I’m now uploading the system’s database.”

My ears were ringing, my head felt like it was floating, but it’s nothing I haven’t experienced before. My name is Agent H. The H stands for Hourglass. It’s just a tacky nickname I got from work when other agents at the organization started teasing me for completing missions last minute. Apparently, I made them anxious like the rapid fall of sand in an hourglass. I’ve made it my life goal to complete the world’s most show-stopping, intelligent, and difficult heist to accomplish, and whether or not I do that at the last second of a ticking bomb or not, I’ll go down in history. Anyway, I needed to figure out how to secure the money in the vault inside Europe’s largest hotel.

“Sir, it seems there is a remote sewer connected to the outskirts of the hotel. You can seize the cash through the tunnels and hand it over to Agent Kim,” murmured my earpiece.

“Right on,” I said. I loaded the piles of money into the crate. I loved the smell of freshly printed greens; the vault was like heaven on Earth. I rushed to the elevator, concealing the money, and pressed for the parking lot floor. I started spamming the button to close the door, but an elderly man found his way in.

“Lovely evening, isn’t it?” the old man smiled.

“Heh, yeah…great weather,” I chuckled, sweat dripping from my brows, slowly trickling to my chin. The old man kept glancing in my direction. What was this guy looking at? He continued to chit-chat.

My earpiece warned me, “Agent H, get out of there! He’s there to intercept the cash!”

Knew it. This guy seemed fishy, and so was his body odor. 

“Well, it was lovely meeting you, sir” I said, deciding to stop at a different floor. 

His sweet smile morphed into a devious frown, “I’m not done talking to you…” he paused, “Agent H!”

He threw a punch at me and luckily for him, it actually landed right on my cheekbone. Ouch. He threw another punch. I dodged. He threw another, and I dodged.

“For an old man, you’re pretty quick,” I chuckled.

He growled, displeased with my comment, and took a small pocketknife out of his pant pocket. My pupils shrank.

“Tough crowd, eh?” He swiftly sliced the elevator’s mirror, missing my face yet again. The door opened, and I ran for it. I hopped through a vent and went on my way to my favorite sewers.

“Ahh the sweet smell of,” I barfed in my mouth and gulped it back down, “rats.” A few scurried past me. I arrived right on time, with absolutely not a second to spare. “Why hello, Agent Kim,” I hummed.

She acknowledged me, “Agent H,” she shook my hand, “I’ve heard quite a bit about you sir.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot, I–” she cut me off

“A lot of criticism for your ignorant decisions and your bad calls. I’ll take that pretty penny off your hands now,” she gestured her hand to take the cart of cash. With that attitude, I didn’t wanna give her no money.

“Come on, Kimmy. Let’s not beat around the bush; we both know you sent that old dude after me,” I taunted. I didn’t really know what I was saying, but by the looks of it, my hunch was spot on.

“It’s Kim,” she replied. “Hand over the cash.”

I smiled, “Welp, according to my watch, time is running out, so, uhm..I’ll just take it from here,” I grinned and sprinted as fast as I could. Man she was fast. But I managed to lose her.

I could still hear her in the tunnels, “Time is running out, Agent H! You’ll have to accept that you’re not cut out for this business after all,” she echoed.

“Yeah, well, I guess I gotta make it count before my time runs out.”

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SECOND PLACE- by Julianna Aubin, Lester MS (9A)

Time is running out. Every second I wait, every hesitation is another grain of sand. Another lost chance. One less opportunity to save them. It sits there. Taunting me like a manipulative puppeteer, pulling just the right strings to haunt me. I have to hurry. Every grain of sand that falls is a reminder of the mistakes I’ve made. The opportunities lost. But first I need to find a way out.

I’ve been stuck in this room for two days. I know that only from the hourglass. The only companion I have in my solitude. It sits on a small stool, seemingly plain and unassuming. 

But I know better. If I don’t solve the puzzle before the final grain hits the bottom, everyone I have ever loved will be gone. Just like that. Erased, as if they never existed.

Or, at least, that’s what the letter said.

I have no memory of the before, before I woke up here. The last I can remember is waking up and seeing two things: the hourglass and the letter. 

The hourglass had just begun, even before I knew what it meant. So the cards were against me from the start.

Somehow I knew I needed to open that letter. It felt important, special even.

Inside was a simple message, but the words rang with danger: Solve the puzzle before the final grain falls, or everybody you love will disappear.

My heartbeat quickened, and I felt a shiver travel up my spine. How could I save people I didn’t even remember? And what puzzle? I soon found the answer to both questions.

Inside the envelope was another piece of paper and a quill. It bore no markings, only a singular faded mark of an origin I couldn’t decipher.

I put it aside and looked at the hourglass with new understanding. I wasn’t just an object anymore, but a ticking time bomb to a death sentence of countless people. Even though I didn’t know them, I felt in my heart that I had to do something. I just couldn’t let them die. So I began to work out deciphering the paper, using the only tool I had with me. My mind.

It was exhausting and tedious work. I had to examine every part of the page, every nook and cranny, trying to find some semblance of a puzzle with absolutely no context.

After a while, I gave up. I lost the will. “Why,” I thought, “am I trying so hard to save people I don’t even know?”

Then the first vision came.

It was short and fleeting, like a cool breeze on a summer’s day. I had a flashback of a small boy with brown hair and bright green eyes, laughing and smiling like the world had been made for him.

Then it was gone. I was back in the same cold, dark room with the same hourglass, seconds disappearing like snow on the first day of summer.

I drew in some deep breaths. “What was that?” I said aloud in confusion. Then something else came to me. A name.

Emmett.

I don’t know how, but I knew that was the name of the boy. And suddenly he just wasn’t a boy anymore. I knew at once that he was one of the people the letter had meant. My brother.

I realized now that I couldn’t stop. Not after seeing his face, so full of life and joy. I couldn’t let it be snuffed out.

So I returned to my work with renewed energy. Each time I felt my drive failing, a flashback of a loved one was revealed to me.

Ella, a sister. George, my father. Helen, my mom. Each name was a reason to keep fighting, each one a candle whose fume was close to burning out.

Now I am still working, but I don’t have much time. By my estimate, there’s only half a day left on the hourglass. Time is running out. I put down my quill, my mind blank. How can I solve this?

It’s like it was designed to be impossible. Then, it occurs to me. A puzzle is never obvious. It’s sneak, deceiving, like a predator on the hunt.

The answer would never lie where you’d expect it to…

I throw the paper and quill to the ground, my mind ablaze with a new task.

I quickly get to the hourglass and lift it up. Sure enough, underneath is a code. It’s in a language I’ve seen before. But where?

Then I remember. On the paper!

I grab the paper and compare the two objects. It’s a match! Now I just need to find out what they say 

Finally, after what seems like an eternity, I make a discovery. As I’m laying it down, I flip the paper upside down. When I do, it becomes a language I can read. I do the same to the hourglass and I suddenly know what to do. With all my might, I hurl it down. It shatters, sand spilling everywhere.

I feel the room fall away, and a voice whispers, “Congratulations, the end is here.”

SECOND PLACE- by Eliana Blom, Kadena MS (15B)

“Okay,” the instructor announced, “tonight we shall set our mission in action.” I stood quietly, listening to every word he said, while repeating the phrase I’m ready, I’m ready, I’m ready. I assume my teammates are too. I remind myself that I was picked for this mission because I am capable of doing it.

“Okay,” the instructor says again as he goes over the details of the mission we have been planning for months, “there will be three different teams. Mila, Violet, and Hector, you will get into the control center, disable the security, and keep watch. Marcus and Olivia, you will be outside control to keep watch on the guards outside. In a scenario that they go inside, stop them.” 

He finally turns to me.

“Avery, you have always known your part in this mission. You shall be the one to sneak in and take the relic. And, John, you will accompany her with this, but know Avery is in charge; this has been her mission since the beginning.”

All seven of us nod, ready to steal back the relic that rightfully belongs to us. To me.

“Ready to divide and conquer!” the instructor shouts; he is answered with a chorus of cheers. We are all ready, especially me.

The next day comes, and I find it hard to stay calm. I have dedicated half a year to this mission. If we-I-don’t succeed… I don’t finish the thought, for the instructor enters the room, wearing a stern and determined face, as always. 

I. AM. READY. I repeat to myself as the instructor goes over the final details. Then, with one last shout of “Divide and conquer!” we leave the building in which I have trained tirelessly for the past six months. 

Dressed in black, the other six students and I leave the instructor and begin our journey. 

Once we reach the building, we begin the “divide” part of our journey, splitting in to our assigned teams and getting in position. The instructor said he would take care of the guards, and luckily he has already done so.

As John and I creep into the building, I merge in with the shadows and John follows close behind. We navigate through the maze of corridors, yet I know exactly which route to take, for I studied the map without rest.

We finally reach the room which holds the relic. The jewel seems to sparkle of many untold colors, and I know within this jewel lies power not even the instructor could imagine.

Mila and her group in the control center seem to have already done their part in switching off security, for the lasers are no longer shining their fierce light and all other traps seem to have been disabled.

Suddenly, John taps me on the shoulder, gesturing to his ear piece. “Olivia said guards are coming.” I quickly run to the pedestal, retrieving the relic. Then, with one motion to John, we run.

Violet yells directions in my ear piece as we sprint. I know the sewer entry I am supposed to take to escape. Finally, we reach it. I jump through the drain, and John quickly follows. But when the lid slides shut again, he doesn’t run like me. 

“Come on!” I whisper-scream, yet he only moves an inch. 

“Give me the jewel,” he says in an eerie voice.

“John….” I say hesitantly.

His approach quickens and he repeats his command.

I whisper into my sleeve, quietly enough that John doesn’t hear. “Alert the guards about the sewer.”

“WHAT?” Violet yells through my earpiece, but I know she will do as I’ve said. I then wait until I hear the sewer lid shake and begin to open it before I bolt down the murky passageway.

To my luck, the guards come down, grabbing John, thinking he is in possession of the relic. His betrayal hurts, yet I run and don’t look back.