Samuel Rivera is our new physics teacher. He is from Brooklyn, New York and came to Florida only a few weeks ago. Growing up he was a science kid, with his favorite subjects being physical science and engineering. He later got into physics when he was in high school when he was required to take a contemporary physics class. Mr. Rivera was naturally curious about the world and how it works, so physics only grew his curiosity. In his junior year of high school, he was able to select an elective, which was physics, for the IB program.
Before becoming a teacher, he was an assistant marketer for a nonprofit company while in high school. After a while his boss started to recognize his computer skills and made him a data specialist. Eventually, the manager of the data team left the company and Rivera was promoted to new manager in his place at only 17 years old. After a few months of being manager he started to grow lonely at work since he was one that was working in data. After realizing how much he disliked his job, he became an I.T. network technician at the New York Business institute. After a few months he left his job as an I.T. and went to work as a tutor for high school students and fell in love with his job.
What was meant to be just a hobby turned into a passion. He loved seeing the kids he taught develop emotionally, mentally, academically and knowing he was a part of it. Mr. Rivera wants to be a positive male influence in his students’ lives. This was encouraged by the environment he taught in. Many of the kids he taught unfortunately did not have a father figure at home. In the beginning it was just meant to be a job but he later found fulfillment in his work. When he was 19, he became a teacher’s assistant, working at a charter school helping them with their Math and Science IB program. The school liked him so much they kept requesting him while in college. His life goal now is to teach for as long as he is bodily able to. He wants to see his students grow to become well rounded, successful adults and be a good influence to their peers.
