一个关于四年级史莱姆帝国的故事。一封写给亲生父母的虚构信。战胜饮食失调症。向可能被迫离开该国的心爱的“第二位母亲”致敬。
这些是我们去年秋天在第三届年度 100 字个人叙事大赛中收到的 12,000 多本“小回忆录”提交中最好的主题。
下面我们表彰了 120 名决赛入围者——20 名获胜者、28 名亚军和 72 名荣誉奖——他们的文章吸引了我们评委的注意力和心，并且能够用短短的几句话讲述一个完整的故事。
祝贺我们的决赛入围者，并感谢所有参与的人。
Slime and Punishment
In fourth grade, I ran an underground slime empire. Armed with hot pink glitter glue, shaving cream, contact solution and laundry detergent, I crafted slimes of all kinds — cloud, clear, rainbow. Each masterpiece had its price tag.
I’d whisper, “Two bucks for cloud, three for glitter,” slipping bags of gooey magic into eager hands during recess. My clientele? Everyone. My competition? Nonexistent.
Until one fateful day, the principal summoned me. My empire had toppled. The evidence? A sticky trail leading straight to my desk. Busted.
My career as a successful tycoon was over, but my legacy? Iconic.
— Naaz Dhindsa, 14, York House School, Vancouver, British Columbia
Papa’s Games
Find the Missing Puppy, Wall-Ball Knockdown, and Murder-Kill-Scary-Game™ were my favorite games that my Papa invented. Don’t Let the Balloon Touch the Ground or You Die was a close runner-up. My sisters and I spent our days as kids playing with our Papa instead of with iPads or dolls. Our giggles and squeals permeated through the house’s walls.
When Papa was kicked out, the whirring of the A.C. echoed through empty, silent rooms. The house deflated. My Papa, the Chupacabra, the Night Dragon and the Hand-Dino, moved into an apartment we weren’t allowed to visit.
I Spy got boring fast.
— Elie Ahluwalia, 16, The Harker School, San Jose, Calif.
A Simple Glance
I was twelve and practicing basketball;
My father was twelve and about to be drafted — the Iran-Iraq War.
I was wondering if I could make the shot;
My father was wondering if he would make thirteen.
I close my eyes, unbend my knees and flick my wrist;
My father closed his eyes, got on a plane, and hoped he’d be able to escape.
The net swishes, the plane descends,
His gaze and mine meet in the middle,
where his story’s happy end allowed mine to begin.
Grateful doesn’t even cover half of it.
— Evan Razmjoo, 17, Corona del Mar High School, Newport Beach, Calif.
I, too, miss rice
Yoon moved into the room across from mine, the second international student in our dorm. I was the first; packed up my life in Shanghai and came here for boarding school two years ago. Yoon often sat alone at lunch, staring at the rotisserie chicken before returning it barely touched. One night, I ordered from Kaju and knocked on his door.
His desk was cluttered with empty Haitai chip bags.
“Kimchi soup and rice?” I asked.
The umami smell filled the room.
Yoon suddenly said, “I miss rice,” and burst into tears.
I nodded, shoving a chopsticks-full in my mouth.
— Oscar Zhu, 16, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H.
First Time’s the Charm
Orange lights hang from the low ceiling of the rehearsal hall.
“Take a seat,” Mr. Homma points to the front row, the other members surveilling from black chairs. “You’ll start with a sixteen-bar sax solo.”
My head goes hot. He counts us off.
Improvisation. Sharps, flats, G7s, A-majors distorted in an abstract canvas. My sweaty fingers riff freely, chaotically. What am I doing?
A circular motion of the hand mercifully ends the piece.
I look up, accidentally making eye contact, but his eyes soften.
“Not bad, Tony. I liked when you went off the chord.”
No wrong notes in jazz.
— Ze Yu Tony Lin, 15, Sage Hill School, Newport Beach, Calif.
A Letter to My Biological Mother
Dear Lindsey,
It’s me. I hope this finds you well. I spend a lot of time thinking about you. I check your Facebook page every so often to catch a glimpse of what you’re doing, how you’re doing, where life has taken you.
I sit there, pondering these big questions time after time. You haven’t wished me a happy birthday since I was seven. Would you ever care to meet me? Are you a bookworm like I am? Do you resent me for ruining your teenage years?
And, most importantly: What would happen if I clicked Add Friend …?
— Sarah Moore, 16, Canton High School, Canton, Mich.
Wearing My Truth
The first day I touched my hijab, my hands trembled like autumn leaves, dropping the fabric twice. Mom found me frozen before the bathroom mirror, her reflection a lighthouse in my storm of doubt. “Ready?” she whispered, her perfume comforting.
I wasn’t. Not when twenty-two pairs of eyes turned to watch me enter room 4B; not when someone’s harsh whisper of “different” sliced through the air. Then Zara appeared, her grin cutting through the tension. “You look amazing,” she mouthed, shooting me a thumbs-up.
Something shifted. Each step grew bolder. I wasn’t just wearing my identity — I was becoming it.
— Dana Sassine, 17, Canton High School, Canton, Mich.
It’s 4 p.m. in Moscow
“Whoever that is, please silence your phone!”
I forgot to turn off my ringer. The family group chat is a raging forest fire.
Last night, my grandma fled Moscow. She had been interrogated in the Zhukovsky Airport three days prior. Once the police knew her address, she had no choice but to leave, driven away by a friend of a friend. Her oldest son, my uncle, had already been denounced as an enemy of the state.
It would be 4 p.m. for her, now. It’s only 8 a.m. here.
A classmate whispers, “Was that you?”
“Mhm. Some family stuff.”
— Daniela Dolina, 16, Hastings High School, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.
First Snow
I’m six, watching Mama’s humidifier spit silver threads of air.
As my white blanket sheds, winter silences the street outside our house. Clouds snuff the streetlights into ghosts spilling down the street.
That evening, though I dreamt of snow crystals haloing my hair, no wish could melt the flakes into my reddening cheeks. But, to my amazement, white palmed the windows when daylight knocked.
Was this snow?
Like whorled cotton, it frosted Beijing’s CCTV towers in icy glass. I expected snow to be less ominous.
At the back door, Mama hands me an N95 mask.
For the smog, she says.
— Mica Wang, 16, Keystone Academy, Beijing
Bad to the Bone
I was rotted and eroded, decrepit at fifteen. My heart was begging for rest and my capillaries were crawling into their graves. And I let them. I just wanted to be small. I wanted light to shine through the gaping space between my thighs to distract from the darkness within me. I wanted to play piano on my rib cage, a symphony of skinny pride. The bags beneath my eyes held no hope. I had a reflection that made my mother cry in fear. I almost died. I hoped I would.
Now I am bigger, but so is my voice.
— Rylie McAndrews, 16, Medfield High School, Medfield, Mass.
When Hope Lives in the Shadows
For 33 years, she’s lived in the shadows. My second mother — she who caught my first steps, taught me to cook tamales, and turned birthdays into magic. She raised daughters who heal the sick and teach the young, gave this country all she had. Her first grandbaby just arrived, but now she has to leave us.
Married to an American, with family who voted for the other guy. Her papers — delayed by bureaucracy, Covid, and stories of others trapped on the wrong side of the border — sit heavy in her hands.
“It’s time,” she whispered. Hope never felt so fragile.
— Tenzing Carvalho, 16, Western Center Academy, Hemet, Calif.
A Little Skirttish
The skirt was pink, tulle and larger than my entire body. My mom always had a flair for the dramatic when it came to outfits, but this was a new level of absurdity — even for her. A denim jacket and a neon-orange belt? Sure. But the skirt? It nearly got stuck in the car door. Every time I moved, it bloomed around me like a small, rebellious garden. I wasn’t thrilled, but as I swished into school, the stares weren’t of mockery. No, they were full of unfiltered envy. Third grade had never seen power like this.
— Claudia Li, 17, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Conn.
My Queendom and Yours
I come from witchlike brews of turmeric tea and elderberry syrup that rise to the ceiling and waft through every door in the house. She comes from pantries stocked with Kit Kats, Costco muffins and eating disorders.
She turned into blue-green irises and Connecticut family affairs. I turned into coconut-oiled hair and seven-day-twenty-cousin-weddings. Mother always warned friendships won’t last if values don’t align. Surely two people who raised each other couldn’t go home to such mismatched queendoms.
Unicorn sanctuaries in overgrown backyards weren’t enough. Withered pages of old diaries murmured sacred memories, but new parchment felt the absence of her name.
— Zoya Prabhakar, 16, Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, Calif.
Note to self: don’t die.
It’s 3 a.m., and you wonder about the person you will be in ten years. Two things you know: I’m alive and I’m okay. One thing you don’t: yourself.
The soles of your shoes scrape against the concrete wall every time you swing your legs. Good people have sat at this spot before. Are you a good person?
You’d answer, “No, I’m not — but I could be.” And that is enough to know who you are. You are defined by possibility. (Tomorrow could be a good day —) You are also paralyzed by it. (— so you don’t jump. Not yet.)
— Victoria Zay, 15, IIP International School, Yangon, Myanmar
Ink and Echoes
When I was nine, my mom handed me a notebook and said, “Write it down — whatever hurts.”
At the time, we lived in a cramped apartment with leaky windows and too many worries. I wrote about the holes in my shoes, the rumble of hunger and the heaviness of not fitting in. As the pages filled, I discovered something remarkable: the weight lightened. That notebook became my sanctuary, a place where struggles turned into stories.
Years later, I still write — now with purpose, turning pain into power. No matter how small I feel, my voice can make ripples.
— Alisa Paley, 14, Lincoln School, Lincoln, Mass.
Secrets of the Soul
The world came to my grandfather’s feet. Chinese divination, “Suan Ming,” was a sacred yet fading art that my grandfather kept alive. The Heavens whispered secrets only he could understand. Hundreds knelt, waiting for a sliver of wisdom.
When I was two, my grandfather cast my fate. His gaze lingered on me, heavy with something unspoken.
To this day, he has never revealed what the Heavens showed him.
Now, here I am, escaped to America. Was this part of the path he saw? Some nights, I close my eyes and picture him, hands tracing ancient patterns, still keeping my secrets.
— Cherry Zhang, 14, Westridge School, Pasadena, Calif.
Only One
Our love spoke in midnight serenades — Kanye songs whispered between dorms. Her legs draped across mine on rooftops, sharing secrets under the stars: a pact … I promised her a concert in Haikou. She promised to sing me my favorite song: “Only One.”
She moved to Bosnia. I stayed in China. She promised to return. Our 717-day streak ended. She fell in love with Joseph. I met Tashi. Yet, I never missed a post.
A crowded venue in Haikou, between pulsing lights, there she was … with Joseph, her fingers threaded through his; looking electrically into him, singing “Only One.”
— Tin Ho Xiong, 17, The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N.J.
Together Apart
Back then I called my mother after midnight, homesick and alone, and she stayed silent, only listening. Back then she flew across the world to visit me at boarding school, carrying jars of pickled plums wrapped in newspaper. Back then she hugged me too tight in the rain and said, “If it gets too hard, just come home.” Back then she cried, more than I did, in the taxi after telling me to be brave.
Back then, I thought I was the one leaving home behind. Now I realize she was the one learning to let me go.
— Emma Wang, 16, United World College, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Blastoff
The subway doors crash open like a junky spacecraft airlock.
It’s late, later than my commanders say I should be navigating the cosmos. I step from dubiously ooze-covered tiles onto a rubbery floor that frames the plastic orange benches, scored by a droning hum buzz and noxious warning beeps. It’s an aptly worn-out rocket for a worn-out star pilot. I assume position, slumped over, ready to throttle through strobing stars within the dark wormhole. “Blastoff,” I mutter to myself, as the grubby spice-scented shuttle roars to life again.
One small step for man, one giant leap toward my home planet.
— Joseph Faranda, 17, J.R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School, Philadelphia
A Familiar Foe
He’d finally allowed it. Today I would shop on my own!
As I browsed the beauty aisles of Walmart, a woman darted toward me. “I don’t mean to scare you, but there’s a man following you. He’s been peeking at you from the aisle he’s in.”
What? All I wanted was some freedom. This is what would happen the minute I left the safety of my parents?
“Who is it?”
The woman pulled me close and walked me over to the cleanser aisle. “That’s him!”
I glanced at the mysterious man. It was my dad.
— Madison Wayne, 14, River Dell Regional High School, Oradell, N.J.
All Finalists
In alphabetical order by the writer’s first name
Winners
Alisa Paley, 14, Lincoln School, Lincoln, Mass.: “Ink and Echoes”
Cherry Zhang, 14, Westridge School, Pasadena, Calif.: “Secrets of the Soul”
Claudia Li, 17, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Conn.: “A Little Skirttish”
Dana Sassine, 17, Canton High School, Canton, Mich.: “Wearing My Truth”
Daniela Dolina, 16, Hastings High School, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.: “It’s 4 p.m. in Moscow”
Elie Ahluwalia, 16, The Harker School, San Jose, Calif.: “Papa’s Games”
Emma Wang, 16, United World College, Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina: “Together Apart”
Evan Razmjoo, 17, Corona del Mar High School, Newport Beach, Calif.: “A Simple Glance”
Joseph Faranda, 17, J.R. Masterman Laboratory and Demonstration School, Philadelphia: “Blastoff”
Madison Wayne, 14, River Dell Regional High School, Oradell, N.J.: “A Familiar Foe”
Mica Wang, 16, Keystone Academy: “First Snow”
Naaz Dhindsa, 14, York House School, Vancouver, British Columbia: “Slime and Punishment”
Oscar Zhu, 16, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, N.H.: “I, too, miss rice”
Rylie McAndrews 16, Medfield High School, Medfield, Mass.: “Bad to the Bone”
Sarah Moore, 16, Canton High School, Canton, Mich.: “A Letter to My Biological Mother”
Tenzing Carvalho, 16, Western Center Academy, Hemet, Calif.: “When Hope Lives in the Shadows”
Tin Ho Xiong, 17, The Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, N.J.: “Only One”
Victoria Zay, 15, IIP International School, Yangon, Myanmar: “Note to self: don’t die.”
Ze Yu Tony Lin, 15, Sage Hill School, Newport Beach, Calif.: “First Time’s the Charm”
Zoya Prabhakar, 16, Palo Alto High School, Palo Alto, Calif.: “My Queendom and Yours”
Runners-Up
Aayushi Kumar, 16, Ryan International School: “Amidst the Whirl, Myself”
Abigail Hae-eun Lee, 16, Johns Creek High School, Johns Creek, Ga.: “Knitting With My Father”
Adarsh Magesh, 17, North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham, N.C.: “Chai Protocol”
Adel Myronenko, 17, Optima School, Kyiv, Ukraine: “It Won’t Always Be Like This”
Colin Hastings, 17, BASIS Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Ariz.: “Dance, Dance, Pants”
Coraline Rockwell, 15, Windsor High School, Windsor, Calif.: “Case Closed”
Emma Zhang, 13, West Middle School, Andover, Mass.: “Attendance”
Erik Hanson, 14, Lyons Township High School, Western Springs, Ill.: “Maybe I Shouldn’t Have …”
Gurbaani Kaur Kakkar, 16, Biotechnology High School, Freehold, N.J.: “Stacy and I”
Hailey Cardona, 16, Ogden International High School, Chicago: “Lost Innocence”
Isabel, 14, Wethersfield High School, Wethersfield, Conn.: “You’re Asian?”
Isabella Lee, 13, Chadwick International School, Incheon, South Korea: “Santa, Amazon and the Dress”
Ivy Liu, 16, Lincoln High School, Seattle: “Battle Scars”
Jacqueline Adams, 17, Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, Austin, Texas: “95/100”
Julie Conrad, 14, Alonzo and Tracy Mourning Senior High School, North Miami, Florida: “We’re Still Friends”
Krish Chandar, 14, The Meadowbrook School, Weston, Mass.: “American?”
Lexi Kert, 16, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, Conn.: “REFRESH, REFRESH, REFRESH”
Luca, 17, Wellington C. Mepham High School, Bellmore, N.Y.: “Strength in Silence”
Maia Falcone, 14, Lycée Français de Zurich, Dübendorf, Switzerland: “Healthy Madness”
Miriam Engber, 17, Hunter College High School, New York, N.Y.: “En Vogue”
Phoebe Beers, 17, George Washington High School, San Francisco: “The Necklace”
Robel Tesfamichael, 17, St. Stephen’s School, Rome: “Preschool”
Sadie Okner, 16, Marymount School of New York, New York, N.Y.: “Hold My Hand”
Sorin L., 17, Tenafly High School, Tenafly, N.J.: “Lord of the Flies and Moths”
Sumayya Khan, 13, Ellen Fletcher Middle School, Palo Alto, Calif.: “Pineapples”
Tasha Yang, 16, St. Swithun’s School, Winchester, England: “Another Meaning of ‘Drinking Tea’ in China”
Victoria Tijerina, 13, Instituto Brillamont, San Pedro Garza Garcia, Mexico: “Flying Again”
Wenshu Wang, 15, Herricks High School, New Hyde Park, N.Y.: “Unintentional Portraiture”
Honorable Mentions
Abigail Eilers, 16, Canterbury School, Fort Wayne, Ind.: “Plus-One”
Addie Nass, 17, Endeavor Charter School, Watertown, Wis.: “Pausing for an Unspecified Amount of Time”
Afrin Mohamed, 16, John F. Kennedy Memorial High School, Woodbridge, N.J.: “The Girl in Blue”
Aimee Harris, 15, Meridian High School, Falls Church, Va.: “Washington”
Alina Thakker, 14, Roslyn High School, Rosyln, N.Y.: “Without Fail”
Allison Zhang, 16, Polytechnic School, Pasadena, Calif.: “Ages of Consequences”
Amy Shin, 17, Chadwick International School, Incheon, South Korea: “Three Weeks of Us”
Ananya Singla, 16, Detroit Country Day, Beverly Hills, Mich.: “The Weight of Six Letters”
Angelica, 13, San Carlos Charter, San Carlos, Calif.: “Invincibility”
Anna Newman, 18, Salpointe Catholic High School, Tucson, Ariz.: “The Dark Water”
Anna Stolle, 16, East Grand Rapids High School, East Grand Rapids, Mich.: “Unspoken Friendship”
Camryn Boisvert, 16, Clarkston High School, Independence Township, Mich.: “A Small Taste of Squid; a Large Taste of the Real World”
Charlotte Holmgreen, 15, Saint Mary’s Hall, San Antonio: “Feathers in the Wind”
Charlotte Young, 14, Hunter College High School, New York, N.Y.: “Folding Dumplings”
Clara Sarcos, 13, I.S. 239 Mark Twain, Brooklyn, N.Y.: “Brewed Justice”
Claudia Madrid, 16, Germantown Friends School, Philadelphia: “Effect”
Derek Shah, 14, Greenwich High School, Greenwich, Conn.: “I Didn’t Want to Go (Back Home)”
Dicheng Deng, 16, Notre Dame High School, Los Angeles: “The Belly Dumper”
Eden, 16, Hastings High School, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.: “Taylor Swift and Turkey on Rye”
Elise Mihailidis, 14, Brookline High School, Brookline, Mass.: “Long Time No See”
Ella Gemeinhart, 14, Cashmere High School, Cashmere, Wash.: “Calling Home”
Elle Hangartner, 16, International School of Amsterdam, Amstelveen, Netherlands: “Pretty”
Emily Romo, 15, Lyons Township High School, La Grange, Ill.: “Goodbye Cheer”
Eric Chu, 15, John L. Miller North High School, Great Neck, N.Y.: “A Cup Between Generations”
Evie Counts, 15, Lakeside School: “See You at Thanksgiving”
Harry Zhou, 15, Wilton High School, Wilton, Conn.: “Chinese American or American Chinese?”
Heejung Park, 14, Daegu International School, Daegu, South Korea: “The Grim Blessing”
Henry Webb, 18, Southwest Covenant Schools, Yukon, Okla.: “Not How I Dreamed It”
Iphis Abrams, 16, Independence High School, San Francisco, Calif.: “Sorry”
Isabel Bernshteyn Shostak, 14, North Hollywood Senior High, Los Angeles: “A Gentle Rose, Rising From the Ashes”
Israt Rahman Anika, 17, Dhaka Cantonment Girls’ Public School and College, Dhaka, Bangladesh: “Breath of Silence”
Jackson Kracht, 18, Winter Park High School, Winter Park, Fla.: “Train”
Jade Howell, 14, Ignacio High School, Ignacio, Colo.: “Type 1”
Jawaher Korichi, 17, Dublin Coffman High School, Dublin, Ohio: “The Book Thief”
Jesse, 14, Lyons Township High School, La Grange, Ill.: “Memoir”
Jia Wong, 14, Yongsan International School of Seoul, Seoul: “Warm Peach Iced Tea”
Jiwoo, 13, Branksome Hall Asia, Seogwipo, South Korea: “A Recipe for Memories”
John Jun, 14, Xi’an Hanova International School, Xi’an, China: “4 Syllables for Fame”
Joli, 15, Scottsdale Christian Academy, Phoenix: “The Cake Scandal”
Josie Passant, 13, Crested Butte Community School, Crested Butte, Colo.: “Remember Me?”
Joyce Cai, Old Scona Academic, Edmonton, Alberta: “Where Do I Position My Fingers?”
Kaitlin Ho, 16, North Shore High School, Glen Head, N.Y.: “‘G(r)aining’ Knowledge”
Karina Delgado, 14, Lyons Township High School, La Grange, Ill.: “The Peculiar Origins of a Beautiful Friendship”
Katherine Wu, 15, Seven Lakes High School, Katy, Texas: “The Ponytail”
Kathleen Holdman, 17, Granite Hills High School, El Cajon, Calif.: “What My Preferences Say”
Katrina Heisler, 14, Algonquin Regional High School, Northborough, Mass.: “When No One’s Looking”
Kayla Leong, 16, Westmount Charter Mid-High School, Calgary, Alberta: “Everything She Wanted”
Keira Ching, 15, Truckee High School, Truckee, Calif.: “The Bramble Huntress”
Kenza Sadiq, 16, Hauppauge High School, Hauppauge, N.Y.: “A Student’s Guide to Accidental Diplomacy”
Lydia Rule, 15, Upper Arlington High School, Upper Arlington, Ohio: “Sisterhood”
Madeline Lenk, 17, Canton High School, Canton, Mich.: “The Never Ending Search”
Maria Shibu, 14, Centerville High School, Centerville, Ohio: “Left Alone”
Maxwell Steward, 14, Unionville High School, Kennett Square, Pa.: “Black Kid on Campus”
Maya Bloom, 13, San Carlos Charter Learning Center, San Carlos, Calif.: “Hungry Ghost”
Mia Bachrach, 16, Schechter School of Long Island, Williston Park, N.Y.: “Memory in Music”
Micah Bidner, 16, Schechter School of Long Island, Williston Park, N.Y.: “Piercing My Soul”
Navya, 13, Seattle Girls School, Seattle: “Flowers”
Nicolas Moujaes, 16, American Community School of Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates: “Lifeline”
Paloma “Lola” Melian Lafinur, 14, Islander Middle School, Mercer Island, Wash.: “Mi Nombre”
Patrick Ward, 16, Plymouth High School, Canton, Mich.: “Why Am I Here?”
Riya Jose, 15, Clarkstown High School North, New City, N.Y.: “Forever?”
Saanvi Deeya, San Carlos Charter, San Carlos, Calif.: “And Finally, She Asked Herself, ‘Are You OK?’”
Serena Zhang, 16, William G. Enloe High School, Raleigh, N.C.: “Fearing Code Red”
Siri, 13, Charles B. Pearson Middle School, Frisco, Texas: “Ironic Biryani”
Sichun Xu, 18, Xiangjiang International High School, Shenzhen, China: “The Warmth of Imperfection”
Sophia Waters, 17, Cheyenne Mountain High School, Colorado Springs, Colo.: “Liquid Hope”
Vaishnavi Kothamasu, 14, Hillcrest High School, Midvale, Utah: “One More Word”
Veronica Zhu, 16, Seven Lakes High School, Katy, Texas: “Language Barrier”
Victoria Day, 14, Polytechnic School, Pasadena, Calif.: “Our Camellia”
Violet Zimmerle, 15, Fred J. Page High School, Franklin, Tenn.: “No More Balloons”
Ye Won Paek, 17, Plymouth High School, Canton, Mich.: “From Japchae to Jelly”
Yuna Onishi, 14, Unionville High School, Kennett Square, Pa.: “Sour Sorries”