UMATILLA — Twelve English as a second language students from Umatilla High School have become published authors through the national student publishing program Studentreasures Publishing.

According to the announcement from the Umatilla School District, through this program, students were involved in every step of the publishing process. They planned, wrote and illustrated their book, which they titled “Un Cuento.”

The idea for their book came about when Blanca Ramirez, substituting for Eric Lougee during his leave, was looking for a class project to help the students learn and practice English that incorporated writing and creativity. They found the publishing program and decided each student would write their own short story in Spanish and then translate it into English for the book. As a class, they helped one another with the illustrations.

Students worked hard on their stories for a number of weeks, according to the school district, and were excited to show this project to Lougee, whom they dedicated the book to.

“It was such an amazing experience seeing these kids create their stories,” Ramirez said. “From their initial idea to their rough drafts and then translate each one. Every day that they got to work on their story was full of laughter and excitement. I learned as much from them as they did from me.”

UHS held a publishing party on Friday, April 5, to celebrate the students’ accomplishment and surprise Lougee with their published hardcover books. The school also held a book signing session at the celebration for students to sign their work.

For more than 25 years, Studentreasures has helped more than 16 million students become published authors. Studentreasures provides hands-on writing lessons in classrooms across the United States and Canada. To learn more, visit studentreasures.com.