As part of the seventh grade English curriculum, Germantown Academy students participate in a writing unit which focuses on the free verse poem and the personal essay. During this unit, the students are responsible for crafting, editing, proofreading, and bringing their own pieces to final draft. Along the way, they consult with each other and with their teachers, but each student's final product is largely an individual effort. Thus, the writing that is available on students' pages represents the best crafting and editing efforts of the seventh graders themselves and has been "polished" to the best of these students' abilities.