Mr. Luis Rivera, Engineering Teacher at Jay High School, is doing an awesome job getting his students excited about engineering. All of his lessons are followed up with hands on activities to reinforce the concepts and make them understand how they are used in the real world. He is leading the creation of the curriculum for the Engineering program in Northside ISD to make this district even better.
Mr. Rivera is one of the favorite teachers among his students and has more students that want to take his classes than he has space to accept. He is able to reach students that other teachers are not able to reach and help turn them around. He values each and every one of his students and spends time getting to know each and every one of them.
This is his third year teaching in public education but he brings his many years of working experience into the classroom. He is also the sponsor of the ACE program https://nisd.schoolnet.com/outreach/jjhs/staff/r_z/rivera_l/ where his students work with mentors from around the city such as architects, construction contractors, etc. to create an actual project that could be implemented. This is an awesome program.
To top this story off, he has received a couple of visits this year from previous students (from the last two years) telling him how they were more than prepared for college classes. The material they were learning in college was taught in Mr. Rivera's class before they graduated such as Auto Desk programs among others. Mr. Rivera's students were excelling in their college classes while others were struggling.
I believe that Northside ISD and Jay High School are lucky to have a teacher like this and wish there were many more like him. I know most of the recipients of this award are elementary teachers, maybe because the parents are much more involved and by the time the students get to high school, parents are much less involved. I believe Mr. Rivera deserves this award. Please consider him for this awesome award.