The essays of 13 Hampton Bays Middle School students have been selected for inclusion in “Stranger Sagas – New York,” a collection of students’ creative writing published by the Young Writers organization.

The students’ winning essays were culled from a pool of 13,500 entries to the “Stranger Sagas” contest, which required entrants to write a 100-word essay based on a sentence starter. The essays were to carry a mysterious or suspenseful tone, in the vein of the Netflix original series “Stranger Things.”  

“I cannot tell you how proud and ecstatic I am for these students,” said teacher Laura Fitzgibbon, who offered the essay contest as an extra-credit assignment. “They worked hard on their pieces and had the courage to submit writing that would be judged.” 

In addition to having their pieces published, the students are in the running for a top award. 

The Hampton Bays School District extends its congratulations to the following writers: Zakaria Chami, Marco Cifuentes, Stephanya Derogatis, Matthew Drake, Shane Jamieson, Samantha Kraycar, Leonardo Valdespino Lopez, Christopher Martinez, Colby Peterson, Brian Pina, Juven Reyes, Emily Robinson and Aiden Zielinski Mendez.