One of my students published in Southwest Fly Fishing

Local student published at 16

Teen merged love for fishing and writing
By Laura Rice
Tuesday, February 03, 2009 at 3:49 p.m.

AMARILLO -- At sixteen years old most are driving a car, planning for prom and maybe thinking about college. But one local teen is seeing his name in print.

Cylar Brown is pretty quiet and not one to brag about his accomplishments, so ProNews 7 will do that for him.

When Cylar walked into Mark Williams' class at North Heights Alternative School this fall a book about fishing was one of the first things he noticed. A book that just happened to be authored by Williams.

Williams challenged Cylar to write himself.

Three hundred words took months to write but after researching and editing they submitted an article to a magazine... not even revealing Cyler's young age.

An hour later, a "yes" from a national trade magazine: Southwest Fly Fishing.

"I have 30 year old friends who have been in the business writing for newspapers and regionals," said Williams. "It's amazingly difficult to get into a national publication."

Cyler credits his hard work for the payoff.

"Somewhat luck... but I worked really hard at it," he said.

His story is now inspiring other students at North Heights.

"They'll say there goes that guy that published in a national magazine," said Williams.

But, more importantly, it ha given Cyler a clear look at what the future could hold.

"Seeing my words in a national magazine, other people are going to be reading... it's just something I never could have dreamed of doing," said Cyler.

He's proud of his work and so is his family, particularly his grandma. Good luck finding a copy of Southwest Fly Fishing here in Amarillo.

"She bought I don't know how many," said Cyler. "She has a stack at her house of all the magazines."

This will not be the last you will hear of Cyler.

He and his teacher are now collaborating on a chapter for a book.