Harshini Balaji
Harshini Balaji is a rising senior at Avon High School. She enjoys writing prose that weaves poetic language and vivid imagery to explore meaningful stories. As a Senior Girl Scout and Gold Award recipient, Harshini is committed to advocacy and community impact. She also honed her journalistic skills as a student reporter in the Yale Daily News Summer Journalism Program in New Haven. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys drawing and competing on her school’s varsity Mock Trial team.
Megan Douty
Megan Douty is an apprentice at the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative and a rising freshman at American University, where she will study Literature, Sociology, and Dance. Her writing is driven by her passion for these disciplines. Through her literary work, she hopes to initiate important conversations and inspire change, especially in the field of women and sexuality studies.
Miles Gruber
Miles Gruber is a rising Senior at Kingswood Oxford. He is a founding member of the KO quiz bowl team and KOffe House. He has also participated in a multitude of school plays and musical performances at his school. While relaxing Miles enjoys reading, playing videogames, watching movies, practicing the bass, and playing DND with his friends. When writing, Miles enjoys outlining large ideas and working on filling out his short fiction and poetry writing, preferring a more fantastical lens for all his stories based on his experiences in life with friends and family.
Andrew Krantz
Andrew Krantz is an apprentice at the Nook Farms Writing Collaborative. He is a rising junior, at Rockville High School. He is a leader in the Rockville Marching Band where he plays the saxophone, and is a member of the local FFA. In his writing, he loves experimenting with rhyme schemes in poetry and exploring eerie tomes that make the reader think. In his free time he enjoys acting, cooking, and gaming.
Madi Maiolo
Madi Maiolo is a second year apprentice at the Nook Farms Writers Collaborative. She is a rising junior at Rockville High School, where she is a varsity cheerleader, two-year class president, and the lead anchorwoman for her school news. Madi is an award winning poet and writer, receiving an American Voices Nominee from Scholastic Art and Writing. She is published in Quail Bell Magazine, as well as Vellichor Literary. Moreover, she was a finalist in the Hillstead Museum’s Sunken Garden Poetry Contest. She enjoys feminist literature and poetry.
Leah Paugas
Leah Paugas is an apprentice at Nook Farm Writer Collaborative at the Mark Twain House. She is a rising junior at Rockville High School. She is a member of the Rockville High School Marching Band, Future Farmers of America, and Rockville High School Drama Club. Leah explores all genres, but especially loves poetry that focuses on her memories of childhood.
Disha Rajasekar
Disha Rajasekar is a rising senior at Glastonbury High School and an apprentice at the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative at the Mark Twain House and Museum. She has received honorable mentions in the Scholastic Art and Writing Competition, along with both a gold and silver award in the Connecticut Student Writer’s Competition. She enjoys reading, writing, and playing piano in her spare time.
Maria Skorski
Maria Skorski is an apprentice of the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative at the Mark Twain House. She will be attending Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee this fall and majoring in the sciences. In high school, she was a member of the World Language Honor Society and the Welles-Turner Memorial Library Teen Advisory Board as well as the founder of the Glastonbury High School book club, Booked and Busy. She has been writing since she was six and her works draw inspiration from media, music, and life experiences. She enjoys fantasy, historical fiction, horror, and sci-fi.
Zoe Sondik
Zoe Sondik is an apprentice at the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative. She is a rising senior at Bolton High School. Zoe is a dedicated member of Student Council, National Honor Society, Spanish Club, and Varsity Softball team. In her free time, she enjoys writing poetry as a way to connect to others her age and the people important to her.
Oviya Tamilarasu
Oviya Tamilarasu is a rising freshman at Glastonbury High School. She is an apprentice of the Nook Farms Writers Collaborative. She enjoys playing the piano and reading horror and fantasy novels.
Avery Zappone
Avery Zappone is an apprentice at the Nook Farm Writers Collaborative, where she continues to develop her storytelling skills. As a rising junior at Miss Porter’s School, Avery is an active member in her community, serving as an advisor to underclassmen and secretary of her FBLA chapter. She plays on her school’s lacrosse and field hockey teams and contributes as a staff writer to the school newspaper, Salmugundy. Avery’s writing will be featured in the 14th issue of 34 Orchard, being released in Autumn 2026.