After bringing their stories to life through words and illustrations, students in Stephanie Bowsher’s Principles of Human Services class at Seguin High School are now officially published authors.
Each year, Bowsher challenges her students to write and illustrate original children’s books as part of their child development unit, encouraging them to think critically about how stories support early learning. This year, the assignment came with the chance for one student’s book to be professionally published.
A panel of judges carefully reviewed each submission, evaluating how well students incorporated PIES development themes — physical, intellectual, emotional, or social — while also crafting engaging, age-appropriate stories. After deliberation, a top book was selected.
But Bowsher had a surprise in store.
Instead of publishing just one book, she announced that eight students’ books would be professionally published, recognizing the high quality and creativity across multiple projects. The unexpected decision turned a competitive assignment into a shared celebration. 
Now, those eight students can officially call themselves published authors, with their books available for purchase online.
“I feel proud of myself for being published because I get to share my book with everybody else,” said Sara Alonso. “I hope it inspires others to create their own books.”
From concept to completion, the project gave students a deeper understanding of child development, storytelling, and the importance of representation in early learning materials.
“This assignment was beneficial to me because my story is about learning how to let go as a child, which I think is a topic that should be talked about more,” said Alayna Gonzalez. “This was good experience doing something targeted towards a different audience because when you graduate high school, you have to talk to a bunch of people from different ages and I think that’s really helpful.”
Congratulations to these eight published authors!