When Coppell High School junior Jaxson Shealy’s fourth grade teacher assigned his class a multitude of creative writing projects, she sparked his lifelong interest in storytelling – an interest that has developed into one of the most important aspects of his life.

“[Marcy Kellam from Austin Elementary] really got me hooked on making my own stories and writing them out,” Shealy said. “I enjoy the freedom [of writing], the liberty you get from it. You can write any way you want, there’s no specific type of format you have to follow, it can be anything you want. And also you can write out any feelings or emotions that you have.”

In his freshman year, Shealy joined Creative Writing Club; currently, he is serving as president of the club. Although he occasionally crafts poems and short responses to writing prompts, his main passion is for in-depth stories.

“I tend to start long stories, but I don’t really finish them,” Shealy said. “I usually like to flesh out stories as much as possible, so writing short stories is difficult.”

Traditional writing is not the only type Shealy appreciates. This year, he branched out to explore film through KCBY-TV, the student-run television station at CHS.