SHS senior, Makayla Montgomery, won a scholarship from the Alabama Writers Forum by submitting a portfolio of writing in the 2023 High School Literary Arts Awards. For her submission, she wrote a 25-page fiction story about a kingdom on a boat where everyone who lives there has a special ability, she sent in only the first part of two. Out of the numerous student submissions, only five scholarships were awarded. Makayla won the Mozelle Purvis Shirley Senior Portfolio Scholarship. The young author said she “had a lot of fun” writing the piece. It proceeds the Certificate of Merrit and Special Recognition she achieved from the same program junior year. In the future, Makayla hopes to pursue creative writing as a “side hustle” and get a few of her books published.