The Garden Warrior 13-year-old Catholic School Student Ella Buckley Publishes Book BY KARY ELLEN BERGER
Most 13-year-olds stay busy with schoolwork, after school activities and social life. Ella Buckley, who attends St. James School in White Oak, is doing all of those successfully and has another achievement she can add to her growing list of accomplishments: becoming a published author. Buckley said she’s loved writing for as long as she can remember. In Spring 2020, when students were sent home for virtual learning, one of her teachers assigned students a “passion project.” Ella picked up a journal and said she began writing in it for fun.
THE CATHOLIC TEL EGRAPH
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God has given me many opportunities every day, and I pray that everyone will be given the same chances.
“My passion project turned into something more,” Buckley said. “I shared it with my classmates and they supported me fully. Then, I shared it with a few family members and my close friends. Soon, everyone was in love with it. I knew that there had to be some way I could spread that love to everyone.” 32 |
Buckley said that with support from her parents, they selfpublished the book. The Garden Warrior is available on Amazon and, with every purchase, Ella has made a point to give back. Already, she has given back to organizations such as the Book Bus, Joe Bertram Foundation and the St. James Athletic Club. “Ella understands that she has been blessed and has a responsibility to give back,” her parents, Matt and Audra, said. “Donating a portion of her sales to a variety of organizations will become a theme.”
Without God, Buckley said, this accomplishment would not have been possible. “God has given me many opportunities every day, and I pray that everyone will be given the same chances,” she said. “Not only is God present in my life and through what I do, but He is within each one of us. All of us just need to look deep in our hearts to find Him.”
