By ANNA KATE ALFORD, Gazebo Staff Writer

Alex Smith spends his time reading, jogging, and riding his bike.

Besides a contribution to the literary magazine last year, he doesn’t normally spend his spare time writing.

Over the summer, however, the Stratford junior decided to step outside his comfort zone. He had two informative articles published.

He posted an article about the 25th Annual Indian Celebration, which takes place at Ocmulgee National Monument in Macon on Sept. 17-18.

“It was about how many people from other countries have come to visit it,” he said.

In order to get the information he needed, Smith interviewed Ocmulgee Superintendent Jim David. He also took various photos that were included in the story.

He later wrote another article, “Art, Science and the Spark of Ingenuity.” It has been published on the website for the internationally known visual artist Stan Mullins of Athens, who posts articles frequently to his blog. It covered the idea of the fine arts influencing history, science, and the progress of technology.

Smith was contacted by Mullins to write this article.

“He was helping with a 3-D sculpture of Zeus,” Smith said. “I just kinda used it to explain how art and science work together.”

Smith said he learned a lot about his topic while writing. He said he will “probably remember [the information] for longer since it had a deeper impact on history.”

At the moment, Smith doesn’t have any plans to do any future writing for publication. He reluctantly admits his articles will be put on hold for now.

“It’s too time-consuming, while school’s going on,’’ he said.