By Mersades Freelove

Jeremy Rivera, a senior at Guyer high school, is enrolled in both the Future Farmers of America and the Agricultural Mechanics program. He recently participated in the Fort Worth Mechanics, Agriculture, Development and Education (M.A.D.E) competition, winning an important scholarship. Making Rivera the first Guyer student to win a scholarship from the M.A.D.E. program.

Since the beginning of the school year Rivera has been working and training for this year’s Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo competition. Which was held this last December. He has been Studying for the demanding written test while working on his project, a swing glider, he built together with his partner Joshua Ratnayeke. Rivera placed fourth out of the top fifty students across Texas that were selected to join in the contest. He was awarded an $8,000 scholarship, which he plans to use to pay off NCTC (North Central Texas College). He also plans to attend Sam Houston State University.

Rivera has always been enthusiastic about mechanics, figuring out how things work. “I began when I was five or six. I helped my dad around the house and liked taking motors apart,” said Rivera. He also enjoyed playing baseball and spent a lot of time practicing the sport when he was younger. At Guyer he paled for the baseball team, but gave it up to join the FFA.

Rivera joined the FFA as an underclassman with the encouragement of his teacher Mrs. Kalka. Sacrificing his baseball dreams to study Agriculture Mechanics. Though he faced some initial challenges with his family because of his decision, he persevered and continued to put in a lot of hard work and effort to get where he is today. “I had to make a lot of sacrifices in order to devote my time to AG mechanics and work on my internships. It’s kind of bittersweet, but it was worth to put everything into it,” Rivera said.

Jeremy Rivera is a great example of the good work that the FFA organization does for students and the community. Preparing them for college and future job opportunities. Rivera has devoted a lot of time and effort to FFA throughout his high school career, and now it is paying off.