- June 12, 2026
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The annual summer Observer tradition is here.
Six student writers representing six high schools will fill the pages of our Observer School Zone section writing about topics of importance and interest to them and their peers.
We are thrilled to welcome Alyssa Coloca, Ava Petroski, Evelyn Schorr, Kate Richardson, Noah Setliff and Tatum Nguyen to our reporting team, sharing their passions with our community and telling local stories.
Alyssa Coloca is a rising senior at Windermere High School.
In high school, she keeps herself busy serving in a wide variety of leadership positions in a plethora of clubs and organizations including yearbook, ASL Club, Better Earth Club, STEMsters, National Honor Society and Rho Kappa.
She also serves in a leadership role for The Windy Word, Windermere High’s literary magazine.
Inside of school and out, she also works with young kids.
Her passion for writing only has grown since she was little and writing stories.
“It started with stories and then it sort of evolved to song lyrics, and I think we’re back at stories,” Coloca said. “It’s just something that’s always come natural to me. It’s always the class I’ve been best at, or I’ve excelled in, because science and math is not really my thing, but writing definitely is.”
Coloca said being able to write for Summer School Zone will be another outlet for her to share her writing. She also would like to pursue a major in journalism in college.
Tatum Nguyen is a rising junior at Windermere Preparatory School.
People can find Nguyen out on the water in Windermere rowing with the Orlando Area Rowing Society, continuing her love of rowing.
Besides rowing, she’s involved with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Club, sports medicine and serves as the lead editor of the yearbook.
She also loves to volunteer, serving the community in any way she can, including being a camp counselor at a summer camp working with children with autism.
But when she’s writing, it’s a time to clear her mind and share what she does in her life with others.
“On social media, I like to share what I’m doing in my life like with rowing, I like to share if I win or my practices,” Nguyen said.
Summer School Zone will be another outlet for her to share how she’s spending her summer with people outside the Windermere Preparatory community.
Ava Petroski is a rising junior at Olympia High School.
This summer will be Petroski’s third year writing for Summer School Zone.
She will be able to further explore her writing abilities at a writing program at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, later this summer.
“Creative writing has been a passion of mine for a really long time,” Petroski said. “It’s such a dream that I get to go to upstate New York to write.”
Besides writing, Petroski also has a flair for the dramatic, diving into the theater every chance she has at school, summer camp and more. She has written her own plays, which Valencia College students have performed, and she has taken theater classes at school and participated in the spring musical. To see a different aspect of theater, she will be participating in a summer camp on how to build haunted houses.
In addition to theater, she also is a member of Olympia’s bowling team.
Kate Richardson is a rising sophomore at Foundation Academy with a deep passion for anything related to science.
At 6 years old, she was asking for space encyclopedias as gifts.
Although unsure of where her future will take her after high school, the idea of working at NASA in some capacity thrills her. She also could see herself working in astrophysics.
“I really enjoy learning about space, what’s in the universe, and I enjoy how investigative it is and how much you can learn about it,” she said.
She currently is working on a YouTube channel that explains bite-sized pieces of “space science” she researches and presents.
But her passion isn’t only in science but also writing.
At Foundation Academy, she participates in the Quill and Scroll, helping with the school newsletters.
“I like being able to kind of voice my opinion or my thoughts into words and share it with people,” she said.
Evelyn Schorr is a rising senior at Montverde Academy.
Schorr’s passion for writing and journalism started when she was asked to be the editor-in-chief of her yearbook in eighth grade at SunRidge Middle School. Upon entering high school, she wanted to expand her opportunities, diving deeper into the world of writing and journalism.
Since then, she has been a part of Montverde Academy’s literary magazine, received a certificate of completion from Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design’s Vogue Summer School and completed the Columbia University Summer Immersion Program.
At school, Schorr also serves as the captain of the dance team and participates in six honor societies. She also serves as student council president of the Jewish Student Union and vice president of the book club.
Noah Setliff is a rising senior at Horizon High School with experience working in the school’s news program, Hawk News, where he has served as an associate producer.
In his senior year, he will serve as the executive producer, writing the scripts for the shows and directing them.
His passion for news and writing allows him to dive into his fascination with creation and connecting with people on a deeper level.
“I enjoy people because everyone comes from a different background, everyone has different views,” he said. “Getting to know them, to see their views, see what their point of view is on life and the world itself is interesting.”
Another passion of Setliff’s is music. He would like to pursue a career in music, but he said if that doesn’t come to fruition, he would like to work with video technology, especially if it relates to music.
