A legacy in motion: From Sunset High School dancer to teaching

Lizette Rivera knows how it feels to be lifted by her community.

As a student at Sunset High School, dance gave her a stage, her teachers gave her guidance, and her classmates gave her encouragement. Now, as a first-year dance teacher at Robert T. Hill Middle School, she is returning to the district that helped shape her, teaching dance and career prep classes.

After graduating high school, Rivera continued her training with a scholarship to Trinity Valley Community College, where she was a part of the Cardettes, a competitive drill team in Texas. She transferred to Texas Woman’s University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in dance in 2025 with minors in psychology and education.

As a student teacher in Dallas ISD, she gained hands-on experience at W.H. Adamson High School and W.E. Greiner Exploratory Arts Academy. These experiences gave her the confidence to step into her own classroom immediately after college.

She is now helping to build legacies by shaping the next generation of dancers, just as her teachers shaped her. Beyond technique and performance, she hopes to show her students that dance can be an outlet for an active and healthy lifestyle.

“It feels good coming back to Dallas ISD,” Rivera said. “Because I actually never left.”