GENOA – Genoa-Kingston sophomores Gavan Mitchell and Liam Logsdon were late turning in their Spanish short-story writing assignment.

They were surprised a few weeks later when they learned that their story was one of three stories written by Genoa-Kingston High School students that were published in “Revista Literal,” a Spanish-language online magazine.

“La Situación de la Leche (The Situation of the Milk),” written by sophomores Deloris Drendel and Elli Wallace and senior Christina Lopez, and “El Tiburón Vegano (The Vegan Shark),” written by sophomores Gavan Mitchell and Liam Logsdon, appeared in the February issue and “Pablo el Pingüino (Pablo the Penguin),” written by junior Amber Herrmann, appeared in the April issue.

Drendel, Lopez and Wallace wrote a humorous story about a man’s misadventures buying spoiled milk, Herrmann wrote about a penguin befriending a polar bear and Mitchell and Logsdon wrote about a vegan shark visiting a waterpark with friends.

More stories written by G-K High School students may be published in upcoming issues of “Revista Literal.”

Spanish teacher Rachel Thorson described “Revista Literal” as a online magazine written by students for students that features fun stories to help keep them interested in learning the language.

“Stories are written by students throughout the United States, coast to coast, from Hawaii to Maine,” Thorson said. “The stories are amusing, and they make reading Spanish fun.”

Thorson’s students read the stories aloud in class with partners to work on their Spanish pronunciation. They also discuss what happens in the story and what they would change.

“This all came about just from wanting to try submitting stories,” Thorson said. “It was a way to write more and practice the past tense. We submitted the stories in February, and it has been a great surprise to have my students’ stories published and for them to be recognized for their work.”

Herrmann said she was excited she now can add “work published in a Spanish online magazine” to her résumé after what she thought was only an assignment for class.

Mitchell and Logsdon also were surprised their story was selected for publication.

“I work at the Mexican restaurant in Genoa and my boss was so proud he said I’d get free food for my family,” Logsdon said. “We still can’t believe our story made it in there.”

“We definitely didn’t think this would happen,” Mitchell said. “It’s made me think about taking Spanish all four years of high school.”