Creating Reel Community with Steven Burgess ’27

Steven Burgess ’27 credits his Rice Fund scholarship for the freedom to pursue his passion for film and media. Whether he’s reporting for The Rice Thresher, spinning records at KTRU or hosting an event for the Rice Cinema Club, he hasn’t let a single opportunity pass him by: “This is the dream. I have to make the most of it.”

Steven Burgess ’27 (Chao) frames his Rice experience the same way he frames his films — through a lens of wonder and gratitude. For him, Rice has offered the perfect backdrop: a beautiful setting, a colorful cast of characters, and even a few dream-sequence moments that would make any cinephile swoon.

“In my three years at Rice, I’ve had experiences beyond my imagination because of Rice’s resources,” he says. “And that begins with my scholarship from The Rice Fund.”

When Steven was researching colleges, he hoped to find an out-of-state school close enough to visit home with a small student population.

“I liked the fact that Rice has a tight-knit community with plenty of opportunities to go around. I was excited about Rice Cinema and its 50-year history,” he says. “But above all, my scholarship made the difference. As a first-generation, low-income student, financial aid is the only reason I’m able to attend Rice.”

Current-use scholarships from The Rice Fund are key to sustaining Rice’s commitment to access and affordability for low- and middle-income families. With the recently announced expansion of The Rice Investment, philanthropic support is more critical than ever to upholding this promise for today’s students and the Owls to come.

“Financial aid changes everything,” he says. “I can really focus on what I'm passionate about and develop who I am.”

That freedom has allowed Steven to pursue a love for media rooted in his childhood. Growing up in Glendale, Arizona, he fondly remembers his dad introducing him to the art forms that shaped his taste today: classic rock like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and black-and-white films. In middle school, he started exploring foreign arthouse films, digging into the work of Tarkovsky and Kurosawa

“I’ve loved media all my life. And I will talk to anybody. I think yapping is in my DNA,” he jokes. “In high school I tried band and theater, but becoming my school’s anchor was my first foray into media. Unfortunately, ‘Good morninggggg, Cougarsssss’ was a reference lost on most of my classmates,” he laughs, doing his best impression of Robin Williams.

A media studies major with minors in politics, law and social thought and Latin American studies, his passion for media is evident as he rifles through the LP room in KTRU, where he serves as music director. Pulling out first pressings of Tupac Shakur’s single “California Love” and Stevie Wonder’s album “Songs in the Key of Life,” he handles each record with the kind of deference one would give an artifact.

He honed this careful approach during his freshman year as a Fondren Fellow archiving film. There he met Arman Saxena ’26, who proved to be a particularly important castmate in Steven’s life. Together they revitalized the Rice Cinema Club, which grew from 12 members to 711.

"I'm thinking about home. I'm thinking about something my village needs," he says. "It's a small country still developing its medical infrastructure, and the equipment they use is still poor."

Steven and Arman’s adventures carried over to their work at The Rice Thresher, where Steven currently serves as head video editor. Arman served as arts and entertainment editor until his graduation last May. Together, they were awarded press passes to attend the Sundance Film Festival in January 2026, a milestone that fulfilled a lifelong dream for Steven.

“I interviewed some of my all-time heroes — Guillermo del Toro and Richard Linklater, among many others — and it was the greatest experience I have had at Rice,” he says. “It showed me that I can 100% make my dreams a reality.”

As Steven sees it, he’s a living example of what Rice students can accomplish with the right support, and he’s determined to show the Owls following him that their goals are within reach too. As a freshman, Steven was part of the inaugural class for Owl Access, a student success initiative for first-generation, low-income students. He has served as an Owl Access advisor every year since, watching the program grow to 173 students.

“Being in a community of people with similar backgrounds, coming from diverse places, put me at ease when I was a freshman, because the rigor can be intimidating,” he said. “I think Owl Access is the most important program at Rice.”

Steven has no intention of slowing down for his senior year. He recently applied for a grant through Houston Arts Alliance to finish production on “The Third Coast,” a feature-length documentary exploring hip-hop music in Houston’s Third Ward.

Reflecting on his Rice journey, he admits to feeling emotional. But he also recognizes that these four years have been the prologue to a lifelong affair with film: a path he hopes will begin in publicity before pivoting to production and directing.

“Nothing’s off the table,” he says with a broad smile. “I’m more excited than ever.”

Learn more about The Rice Fund, and the impact of your support, at giving.rice.edu/rice-fund.