Taken Hostage by Aliens

He attached the wind gadget to the end of the rod and aimed it at the glass box, but the lion tried to attack him at the exact same moment. The bolt of wind hit the lion instead. The blast of wind sent the lion flying into the glass, shattering it. While he was fighting the lion, Jared realized that another gadget was on a chain around the lion’s neck. Was the piece in the glass fake? The lion hadn’t moved from the spot where it had landed. Jared went over to the shattered glass box and picked up the piece from it. Then, he looked at the gadget around the lion’s neck. There was a heart symbol on it. Jared compared the symbol to the heart on his own arm, which had been experimented on by the team of scientists. The matching symbols told him that the gadget around the lion’s neck was real. He took the gadget from the lion and pointed it towards a wall. A door opened up. The smell of fresh air and grass wafted through the door. He could see a big puff of smoke outside. Jared breathed a sigh of relief and walked through the door.

Collaborative Stories: Jozef, Ashley, Melissa, Maia, Izzy, and Joan

Taken Hostage by Aliens

I'm scared. I've been taken hostage by aliens at the age of fourteen. I've been imprisoned for five months. The prison is damp and cold. Puddles are slowly forming outside. The prison has high-tech security, and it is located on the edge of planet Orb sixty-three. I wish I had listened to my mom when she told me not to go on a solo mission. "It is dangerous, Selah. Anything could happen!" she had said. "I will be careful." My mom sighed in frustration and worry. I wish I could go back in time and start from the beginning. As I think this, I hear the door unlock with keys clanging. An alien is coming to take me out. I am scared, but am trying to act confident so the alien does not think I am a weak person. My heart is pounding and pumping. I’m breathing in a lot. The alien opens the door and pulls the arm out the door. And then I ask fearfully what the alien is doing, “What are you doing . . . Where are you taking me?” But the alien ignores me and acts tougher. The alien drags me through a damp, dark hallway to the main room that is a little bit cold. The room is all stone with cracked brick walls and the smell of fresh rain. The footsteps echo, so it’s really loud. I look around for a place to escape somehow. Suddenly, I see a large gap between one side of the wall, but I don’t catch attention. I make the alien explode, then smash the wall where the gap is. I haven’t escaped the prison yet, though. I’m in a maze in a garden. It smells like fresh flowers. I explore the garden first and somehow find a different door and enter through there. Alien guards are on the other side. The guards are wearing very special uniforms and look different than the previous aliens. They are talking about donuts. The guard aliens don’t seem to recognize me, even though I walk past them, wave my hands in their face, and tap them. Still, they don’t seem to see me! I feel surprised, exhilarated, worried, doubtful, and chill because I got away. There’s a cliff that drops down thousands of feet that I stumble upon. I almost fall in as bits of rocks fall and I hear the long distance of rocks falling. I use a levitating spell to walk across mid-air. There’s land across the cliff and I see glowing crystals on the other side that will grant me a wish. I rub the crystals and say, “I wish to get back home!” The crystal floats up and disappears. The crystal takes me to the entrance of the prison, and I know I have more to do.

Outside the prison, it is empty and wet. The puddles are fading and it sounds silent. It’s very foggy. The gates are in front of me, and the sky is dull pink with black spots. I decide to ask anyone for directions. I walk a bit to a small village. The village is small, and there are shacks. The shacks are one room each. There are a lot of people. It is very quiet except for birds chirping and the animals around crunching the leaves. I remember there is still one alien that I consider a friend. Her name is Emma. I go to her house at the edge of the village. Everything in Emma’s house is smashed and destroyed. I check the whole house and ask the villagers if they’ve seen Emma. Emma is missing. I am on Emma’s bed in the corner of the room far from the door. I turn around when I hear loud footsteps in the house. I am trying to pull out of an alien’s grip when I get caught. “Let go!” I yell. I am taken back to the same place I started, and see Emma working with them to capture me!

About 826michigan

826michigan inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities. Our writing and tutoring programs uphold a culture of creativity and imagination and support students in establishing strong habits of mind. Through publication and community engagement, we provide students with an authentic and enthusiastic audience for their writing. Our programs provide an energizing creative outlet for students and meaningful volunteer opportunities for community members. We believe that with one-on-one attention from caring adults, students improve their academic performance, develop a sense of belonging, and discover the unique value of their voices. We also believe that the more fun a student has, and the more directly we speak to a student’s interests, the more we can help students find the fun in learning. That’s why our programs are more than just extra homework. All of our programs are challenging and enjoyable, and ultimately strengthen each student’s power to express ideas effectively, creatively, confidently, and in their individual voice.

ONLINE LEARNING LAB

In the spring of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we quickly transitioned all of our programs online. Our priority is to ensure the safety of our community, while continuing to offer engaging, high-quality opportunities to students. Each of our main programs—Schoolwork Support, Workshops, Field Trips, and In-school Projects—has been reimagined for the virtual space as part of our new Online Learning Lab.. For the 2020-21 school year, our programs will remain virtual. When is it safe to return to our in-person programs, we plan to continue to offer virtual program opportunities as well!

SCHOOLWORK SUPPORT

The program formerly-known as tutoring has been given an updated name, but the same great foundations remain. We organize trained volunteer tutors to work with students one-on-one with their homework after school. Schoolwork Support is available for all subjects, for students ages 8-18. Generally, we offer this program at three locations: at our Liberty Street Lab in Ann Arbor, at the Michigan Avenue Branch of the Ypsilanti District Library, and at our Winder Street Lab in Detroit’s Eastern Market, though in-person programs are on pause this year. We have added a Virtual Schoolwork Support program. Students are paired with two tutors to work on assignments for school and writing projects of their choosing.

WORKSHOPS

We offer a number of free workshops taught by professional artists, writers, and our talented volunteers. From comic books to screenplays, bookmaking to radio, our wide variety of workshops are perfect for writers of all ages and interests. One of the most popular workshops we offer is our weekly Wee-bots program for elementary-aged writers.

IN-SCHOOL PROJECTS

Our trained volunteers go into local public schools every day to support teachers with their classroom writing assignments. Based on the teacher’s curriculum, assignments range from writing tales to crafting college essays to exploring poetry. In addition, we hold regular Writers Clubs, in which small groups of students are able to work on a writing project over the course of a semester, culminating in a publication. We also partner with schools to hold Family Writing Labs: laughter-filled events in which families to come together and participate in an evening of engaging writing activities and community connection.

FIELD TRIPS

Always full of surprises and theatrics (and usually a visit from our crotchety editor, Dr. Blotch), our Field Trip program is an experiential writing extravaganza. We welcome teachers to bring their classes in for field trips during the school day. Students join a group of volunteers, interns, and staff to help solve a problem through writing—whether that is Dr. Blotch’s insomnia, our looming story deadline, a mystery in need of solving, or one of the many others we encounter. Our field trips always end in a finished publication of original writing that students take home. Often the field trip writing is connected to a second leg of the students’ journey, whether a trip to a museum, library, or local record label, thanks to our many incredible community partners.

OUR STORES

Our Robot Supply Co. stores are one-stop shops for robots, robot owners, and enthusiasts alike. They are designed to inspire creativity and bring awareness of our programs to the community. When it is safe to do so again, come visit the Ann Arbor Robot Supply Co. at 115 East Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor and the Detroit Robot Supply Co. at 1351 Winder Street in Eastern Market in Detroit. In the meantime, please visit the Robot Supply Co. at onwardrobots.com. All proceeds from our stores directly fund our free student programming. Onward robots!

826 National was inspired to take a stand on issues of inclusion and diversity in light of the many events that spotlighted social and racial injustices throughout the country. We as educators, volunteers, and caring adults need to be aware of the wide range of issues our students face on a day-to-day basis. We need to support these young people as they navigate through and try to make sense of the world and their own identities.

We need the support and the feedback from our community to ensure 826 is living up to these standards. Through our inclusion statement, our internal diversity and inclusion group, cultural competency resources provided to staff and volunteers, and partnerships with other organizations, we are always working towards being a more inclusive and supportive organization.

We at 826 have the privilege of working with the next generation of scholars, teachers, doctors, artists, lawyers, and writers. It's our job to make sure they are able to take their own stands.

As an organization committed to encouraging youth in their creative expression, personal growth, and academic success, 826 National and its chapters recognize the importance of diversity at all levels and in all aspects of our work. In order to build and maintain the safe, supportive 826 environment in which great leaps in learning happen, we commit ourselves to inclusion: we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, nationality, marital status, English fluency, parental status, military service, or disability.

The 826 National network is committed to encouraging youth to express themselves and to use the written word to effectively do so. We encourage our students to write, take chances, make decisions, and finish what they start. And 826 strives to do this in an environment free from discrimination and exclusion.

WRITING IS

A way to figure things out by ourselves

A way to help us connect to our world

A way to help us learn who we are and who we will become

A way for us to use our power to make changes and build a better world We create a safe place to be ourselves and try new things We support the ways that writers work (like thinking, sketching, talking) We study the writing we want to do so we can try it We learn how to change our writing for genre, audience, and purpose We work with a group of writers who help and support each other

826michigan inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities.

Find out more at 826michigan.org!