Indian Springs School sophomore Justin Mercer of Vestavia Hills is one of only 5 percent of all Boy Scouts to earn his Eagle Scout rank after raising more than $1,300 and building a brick patio and pathway for St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Birmingham.

He is a member of Troop 367 at Riverchase United Methodist Church in Hoover and has participated in Scouts since the first grade.

Sophomore Emily Cutler’s short fiction story, “Popular Linguistics,” has been chosen to be published in literary magazines “Polyphony HS” and “CICADA.”

Her piece was one of 50 chosen for publication out of 1,000 entries for Polyphony HS, a student-run national literary magazine for high school writers and editors. It will go to press in the spring of 2010 and will be available next summer.