Local author David Rice paid a return visit to Lehman High School recently, and followed up on some conversations he’d had with students there last school year. Among audience members at one of his class sessions were (left to right) Linda Carranza, Concepcion Fierros, Maria Torres and Abigael Hernandez. (Photo by Jim Cullen)
by SARAH SCHMERBER
Special to the Hays Free Press
Author David Rice came back to visit Lehman High School recently to continue a conversation started years before. Rice has followed one group of bilingual students since they began at Lehman High School as freshmen. They are now juniors.
His message was that writing is a means of self-expression for everyone. He shared his personal challenges in life and how he used writing in his adult years to take ownership of the stories. His stories are all based on personal experiences. Students participated in a story analysis of imagery and language choice. They compared an older short story with a newer one to see the artist’s style and language choice.
Rice explained that using choice words gave life to a story. Students also asked about his screen-writing ventures from the past year. He reported that this fall his first feature film will premier in theaters and his second will follow and be showcased before the end of the year.
The writer talked about being passionate and following through with what you want, the movie-making process, and being credible so that people trust your work. Students were also promised a follow-up visit next year as they start their senior year. Rice additionally asked the students to “stay connected” and to network with him for future endeavors.
Rice is a former teacher and he continues to do substitute work in Austin ISD to stay connected with Central Texas students. He grew up in the Rio Grande Valley and finished his last two years of high school at Austin’s Crockett High School. He currently works with the Llano Grande Film Project out of the Rio Grande Valley and he continues to give back to his community.
Sarah Schmerber is Instructional Strategist at Lehman High School.
