Photographs by William Taufic.
Jeremy Rivera moved to Greenwich in first grade and has been involved with the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich (BGCG) ever since. “I joined the moment I moved here,” says the eighteen-year-old. “I was used to moving every year, so I was hesitant about making friends, but the staff and the kids there were so nice. I couldn’t help myself!”
In middle school, he became a counselor-in-training at Camp Simmons. He joined the Keystone Club in ninth grade and says it changed his life. “It really opened up my perspective on the community around me,” Jeremy explains. “You don’t realize how much people need help until you go out and help them yourself.”
Among the many projects Jeremy has worked on through Keystone Club are the Sleepy Hollow Sprint Triathlon, benefitting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society; the ONS Foundation PLAY Strong PLAY Safe 5K; Hope for the Homeless, for which Jeremy helped raise money to purchase 300 hygiene kits for homeless men and women; and a local backpack drive in the back-to-school season. He also participated in the walk for Out of the Darkness. “It really opened my eyes to how big an issue suicide is,” he says.
Jeremy served as secretary of the Keystone Club last year and was an outstanding peer leader in the Red Ribbon’s Open Eyes program, in which he led peer group discussions for local high school students on health, safe sex and looking out for one’s peers. Don Palmer, program director at BGCG, comments, “Jeremy is a high-character young man who volunteered many hours as a member of our Cardinal Keystone Club. He was someone who would get involved in a project and stay until the job was completed. He was a quiet leader who took great pride in being a member of the club. It has been my pleasure to watch Jeremy grow from a club member to a counselor-in-training to a staff member. He always made the club a better place for today’s members.”
The sentiment is mutual. At Greenwich High, Jeremy recalls a little struggle to “find myself. BGCG helped me understand the type of people I wanted to hang out with and who would be a good influence in my life.” Jeremy adds that the club—and his parents—helped him stay on track, ensuring he got his homework done at the learning center.
The effort paid off. Jeremy is now in his freshman year at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering, majoring in computer science. As he packed his bags for school, he said, “I’m very excited and very nervous. It’s my first time being away from home for more than a week.” Considering he is a kid who relished his time traveling to a Keystone conference and “learning about the different perspectives of teens from all over the country,” we trust Jeremy will do just fine.