Older and Wiser Nik Rice

“ And just randomly, every assembly, there would just be a body that fell onto the stage.” From what used to be a fun and silly tradition for the class of 1999 at Orem High School is now a long lost memory remembered and cherished by the one and only Mr. Rice.

Mr. Rice, a graduate from 25 years ago in the class of 1999 decided to pursue a career here at Orem High School.

Back in 2011, Mr. Rice started as a student teacher in the very room he teaches in today. Room 2205. Just a year later, he started teaching. Today he is teaching English 10, English 12, Mythology, and Film Literature.

Back when Mr. Rice was a student, the biggest challenge he faced in school was “what I was interested in and what I might want to do for my career, who I wanted to be.” He seems to have fixed all those challenges and is now a thriving loved teacher here at the school.

What made Mr.Rice’s Orem High School experience the most memorable were the assemblies. Mr. Rice recalls a memorable time “ I like the assemblies… they were pretty funny, they used to have this thing where in the catwalk above the stage, they had this dummy.” Then randomly all of the sudden a dummy would fall onto the stage.

He continues on to say, “ We all knew it was coming, we were all expecting it at some point. It was hilarious when it happened.” Sadly, once Mr. Rice came back he excitedly waited for the funny moment to arise which failed miserably when he found out that the school no longer holds such a cherished tradition.

Although Mr. Rice was let down by the school once, he wasn’t let down when he saw how the student body treated each other. Mr. Rice said, “as far as openly teasing, that’s not as big as it used to be… there’s less picking on the weak kids.” Times have changed and Orem High students thrive with each other and continue to build a better school.

If Mr. Rice could go back and change one thing about his high school years, it would be to not worry about grades because learning is more important than a letter. He is passing down this advice to those at the school because he couldn’t give it to himself while he was a student at Orem.

Mr. Rice is an example of greatness and inspires others with his teachings. He continues to be a mentor and role model to the many students at Orem High School.

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Ryann Hatch

Ryann Hatch is one of the newest members of the Journalism class. She is a junior here at Orem High School. With a passion for uncovering the truth and telling compelling storie. Ryann has a strong focus on telling the stories that matter. Ryann is dedicated to shedding light on pressing issues and advocating for change through her writing. When not chasing stories, Ryann spends her time on the lacrosse field. As she leads the girls lacrosse team as one of their captains she is also traveling and doing fun things with her friends.