Alece Lehrman, a senior at Goessel High School, is serving as an intern at the Free Press for the school year. She will be helping out in various capacities including doing a few features.
While many can claim that they are flexible, Alece Lehrman really backs up her easy-going, helpful personality with a trait that not many can claim—she is ambidextrous—meaning she is able to use her right and left hands equally well.
According to mentalfloss.com, approximately 11% of the population is left-handed and only 1% is truly amidextrous. She really is flexible when it comes to many things even down to which hand she uses.
“I will write with one hand and then when I get tired, I switch to the other hand,” said Lehrman. “I tend to use my right hand more, but then I use scissors and eat with my left hand more.”
The 17-year-old, a senior at Goessel High School (GHS), plans on majoring in Journalism or English when she heads off to college next year.
“I’ve been writing for a while. I just fell in love with writing. I’ve always been better at English than other subjects,” said Lehrman. “I’ve also worked on writing short stories so I could see myself writing a book. I want to do a lot of things.”
In order to help her decide between journalism or a broader writing major, Lehrman is doing an internship through the Hillsboro Free Press to learn about the newspaper business to see if it is something she wants to do longterm.
“I’m ready to experience it all and learn as much as I can,” said Lehrman.
She has had several people in her life encourage her to pursue a career of some sort in writing including her high school English teacher Crysta Guhr.
“Alece is an inquisitive and eager learner. She enjoys being challenged and puts careful consideration into the words she chooses to express herself in writing. One quality I appreciate about Alece is how she listens to others and has genuine empathy for others. I believe her interning at The Free Press will allow her to see all sorts of perspectives and gain a broader understanding of journalism,” said Guhr.
Lehrman has grown up in Goessel and enjoys it. She lives there with her mom and step-dad.
“I love the small town. I love how the community is very tight-knit and how everybody knows everybody,” she said.
Lehrman has three sisters and a brother although some of her siblings live in Hillsboro.
It’s a good things that the teen is flexible since she has a lot on her plate to balance. On top of her internship, she plays volleyball and is on the cheer squad at GHS, participates in Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), does Forensics, is in this semester’s school play, will play basketball in the winter, works at Bethesda Home on the weekends and participates in other activities that come up. She will also be helping with an upcoming Fall Festival happening in Goessel on Oct. 7.
In the little bit of spare time that she has, Lehrman enjoys playing with her dog Lucy.
When asked what she is looking forward to the most in her internship, Lehrman said, “Just learning. I’m ready to learn it all.”
She will have the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of newspaper life and will get to do some writing as well. Be sure to check out her piece in this week’s edition and keep an eye out for future work from her as she continues to learn.
