Two students from Mesa’s Westwood High School are being honored for their writing in the The Be Kind People Project, a Valley nonprofit dedicated to thanking teachers and overcoming bullying by igniting the power of kindness in classrooms across the U.S.

Jim Thompson always seems to be finding new things to wring wistful over. How many letters has Jim Thompson published in the AFN?

Jim Thompson always seems to be finding new things to wring wistful over. How many letters has Jim Thompson published in the AFN?

Students from Chandler, Gilbert and Phoenix writing to the theme, "Veterans, Our Resilient Heroes," took top honors in the VA Veterans Day Parade Essay Contest.

Students in the Mesa Academy for Advanced Studies' Novel Writing Club wrote a cumulative 800,000 words during National Novel Writing Month in November.

The decisiveness. The agility. The speed. They all came to a head for Steve Breaston on one 73-yard punt return against Pittsburgh last Sunday, and it was everything the Cardinals sought this offseason.

Sometimes achievement is about more than high grades and perfect attendance. Sometimes it’s about perseverance. Taken from her parents by Child Protective Services when she was 12, Jenna Tryon was sent to live in a group home, then with various family members. She ended up with her aunt, Bonna Hamilton.

Johnny Estrada’s offensive numbers are among the best for major league catchers, but other math leaves him wondering if he will return to the Diamondbacks in 2007.

Johnny Estrada’s offensive numbers are among the best for major league catchers, but other math leaves him wondering if he will return to the Diamondbacks in 2007.

GOLDEN, Colo. - Authorities released nearly 1,000 pages of new documents from the Columbine High School massacre Thursday, including step-by-step plans written by the two killers as they gleefully plotted the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.

They can write about love. They can write about children. They can write about food.

They can write about love. They can write about children. They can write about food.

Cheryl Bartlett was an unlikely person to write a book about stripping.

Second-grade teacher Aspen Gonzales carried out a special mission at Gilbert's Boulder Creek Elementary School the last few months. Gonzales passed out letters to all 750 students, asking them and their parents to write a letter of appreciation to their teachers and to all of the staff at the school. After collecting the letters, Gonzales bound them into 85 books, one for each employee. She presented the books at a staff meeting this month. She then invited everyone to "pay it forward" by writing a letter to someone they are grateful for, and then delivering their letter to that person during the holiday season.

Anthony Mirabito, a student at Gilbert’s Neely Traditional Academy, won first place in the fiction category in Arizona StoryMakers Writing Contest.

Reading, writing and ripping: These three subjects are part of the everyday curriculum for five East Valley children as they learn in a unique Mesa private school where skateboarding training is given as much time as typical school subjects. 

 Mesa or Gilbert school students in 4th, 5th or 6th grade who can make a case for someone they look up to in their daily lives can enter the “Every Day Heroes” writing contest.