By LINDSAY DYESS / Community Columnist

On May 9, seventh graders at Columbiana Middle School celebrated a very special day: the next generation of authors was born.

The Writing Our Stories program came to a close for the year with a special commencement ceremony.

Students who participated in the program received a published book of the poems and stories they wrote during the duration of the program.

The Writing Our Stories program is a program based on teaching at-risk kids creative writing skills.

The curriculum was designed and adapted by the Alabama Writers Forum with Tony Crunk as the teaching author.

This program is offered at no cost to the students or the school thanks to the generous sponsorship of the Alabama Humanities Foundation, the Alabama State Council on the Arts, Alabama Power and member donations.

This program would not be successful without the dedication of Columbiana Middle English teacher Elizabeth Birdsong and all that she has done to for her students and helping to produce the Writing Our Stories project anthology.

Congratulations students for all of your hard work and dedication to another successful year of the Writing Our Stories program.