One of Seminole’s own has been selected to be published in The New York Times.

A piece written by Gracie Kuehner, an eighth grader at Seminole Middle School, will be featured in The New York Times for Kids, which is a special section of the paper reserved for readers between 8 to 14 years of age.

Gracie’s selection came after freelance writer Elise Craig reached out to Seminole Superintendent Bob Gragg in the interest of hearing the perspectives of students from rural communities regarding mask mandates as part of a project she was working on over how kids feel about the mandates. This insight, according to Craig, was particularly intriguing since most of the other students she had spoken with, “were in denser communities and the rules around prevention may be different.”

Upon her inquiry, Gragg got in touch with Seminole’s Middle School Principal, David Carter, over who might be best suited for the task, and Gracie was soon nominated. “We were all really, really impressed with her work,” said Gragg.

This sentiment was echoed by Ms. Craig after her interactions with Gracie, as she refers to the eight grader as “a very thoughtful and mature student who did a great job of thinking about the issue and answering my questions.”

The story with Gracie’s contribution will be featured in the September 26 publication of The New York Times for Kids.