Mizhelle Cortes has been seeking an extra curricular activity her first three years of high school, but as a senior, she feels she has discovered her passion as a writer and business manager for The Downey Legend. “It makes me feel special that other students will read my work,” Cortes said. “I can provide unheard stories from students and staff.” Since Cortes is planning to pursue a business career, she is pleased to be part of the financial support of the online newspaper. Despite her overwhelming schedule with honors courses, Cortes is glad to take a break and write school news. She anticipates improving as a journalist and meeting all those interesting students hidden in the school campus.

Cortes finds pleasure in reading realistic fiction novels, particularly those by the author Joyce Oates. Oates has inspired Cortes to have a voice of her own and experiment with her writing by using imagination and unique qualities. In her free time, she enjoys watching scary movies with her friends and tasting the variety of yogurt flavors from YogurtLand.  This vehement writer aspires to attend UC Berkeley after her senior year and pursued the careers of business and fashion. Cortes feels UC Berkeley is her dream school since it is far from home, which allows her to gain more independence and dorm in such a beautiful campus. After finding her dream job, she wishes to form a family and settle in The Golden State, in order to stay close to her family. Another of her future goals is to travel the world, specially the Philippines to visit her family. With all her determination, Cortes wishes to accomplish all the goals she sets in live, maintaining her passion for writing through out her adventures.