Last year, she often walked out of school 30 minutes after dismissal. During seventh period and any extra time she had after it, she was pasting around 12 articles into Adobe InDesign, editing stories with perfectly formulated sentences, and organizing photos from every school event. For the past four years, Kaliga Rice has worked countless hours as a writer and then editor of the school newspaper, The Tiger Times. She will graduate from Hartselle High School May 26 and plans to attend the University of Alabama in Huntsville for Communications.
Writing is not a new-found hobby for Rice. She stated, “I think from the time I was in second grade I knew I wanted to be a writer.” She enjoyed writing short stories and reading in her free time, so when she started at HHS, she joined the journalism class to sharpen her writing skills. Rice covered a variety of topics in the newspaper, ranging from book reviews to Battle of the Classes recaps. All the while, she filled herself with books of every genre, her favorite being horror novels by Stephen King.
Out of her four years of high school, Rice said her favorite class was AP Literature with Coach Rhone. She explained, “It made me think deeply, and a lot of the topics that we studied bridged over to other subjects. They connected to history, psychology and to mental illnesses. I found it really interesting.”
Along with this class, Rice took many other AP and advanced courses over the 4 years, earning As in all of them. She said it was difficult, but she worked hard. She said, “It was pretty much just sink or swim. There were nights when I had to drink a lot of coffee and just get through it, stay up, focus on homework and keep going.” She was a member of Mu Alpha Theta, National Honor Society, and Spanish Club. She joined Spanish Club sophomore year, and after learning about different cultures and enjoying the way Sr. Will (Dennis Willingham) teaches, she decided to stay in the class for the remainder of her HHS career.
It wasn’t always easy, but she pushed through it. She described, “I am really proud that I didn't let myself give up even when I wanted to or when I felt like I couldn't do something. When I felt like I was going to fail a test or something, instead of just accepting my failure, I worked harder to make sure I didn't fail. I think that's one of the things I like most about myself.”
Rice would describe herself as an introvert, but over the past four years, with the help of the EDGE leadership program, HHS experiences, and her own self-growth, she has learned how influential introverted people can be. She described, “I learned that I can do things that I usually tell myself I can’t do because I am introverted. I actually can do some things that I tell myself only an extrovert can do. I think introverted people can be leaders.”
Now, even though it feels like she was just walking into HHS with no idea where anything was, Rice believes it is time for her to graduate. Currently, she plans to attend UAH for communication arts in the fall. She said, “I’m trying to keep my options open. I really love journalism, and I’m really passionate about writing, but I don’t really want to tie myself down to one thing. I feel like I can do different things, and I want to see what else I am capable of. But, I think I’ll always come back to writing whether it’s creative writing or journalism.” Kaliga Rice is going out in the world, traveling to all of the fifty states, speaking Spanish with people, and writing all the time.
Kaliga, The Tiger Times will miss you. Thank you for all the hard work you put into making the paper the best that it can be. We know you are going to do amazing things through your writing and your life! Congrats!
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