Hello!!!!!! My name is Jerkis Rivas. I am from the Dominican Republic. I am 15 years old. I have been in the United States for almost three years. I go to Kingsbridge International High School. I love going to school because I always experience lots of different emotions in a day: happiness, sadness, anger. I love the outdoors and that is why I am involved with this program. I have lots of hobbies, for example: playing volleyball with my friends, playing the alto saxophone, chatting with my friends, and doing stuff in the computer. I love listening to music on my iPod and I also love going out with my friends.
There are five members in my family. My mom Albania, my father Radhames, my brother Radhames, and my two sisters Fanny and Ianna. They are all crazy, in the good way. They are just like me. I can say that because almost all of my friends consider me crazy but so are they. That is another reason of why I love school. My family always wants the best for me. They don’t like when I am absent or late for school. My father is always is very strict about that. As I mentioned before I am in an international school, which I really enjoy because I get to know other people cultures and religions. In my school there students from: Bangladesh, Albania, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and Argentina, just to mention a few. It is amazing to have all of those different languages and religions in one place.
I love animals, but I don’t like to pet them even though I have a dog at home. I don’t like to pet them because sometimes they leave, get lost or die, and then, I will be crying for the rest of my life for that animal. That always happens to me! And I just don’t like it. I remember when I was 7 or 8, and my family had a dog. They’ve took it from the streets. My grandma told me that our dog was bleeding when she found it, and my grandma took it cause of that. Since that time I love animals. The thing is that our dog was very old. So, I woke up one morning, I was 11 or 12, I saw my dog sleeping. At least that is what I thought. Unfortunately, it wasn’t, it was dead. I had a bad day that day.
I love music. I used to dislike Rock music but now I changed my mind. I love it, as much as pop. My favorite subject is music. I play the alto saxophone but I would really like to play the violin. I love anything that has to do with violins. Some of my favorite groups are Green Day, Evanescence, and Linkin Park.
I am not sure of what profession I want when I finish high school. I’m confused about that. I used to be a lawyer but after I thought about it I decided that I didn’t want to do that. I want to do something else, but I don’t know what and that is the problem. About camping trips, I’ve already been on three trips. The first one I don’t really remember the place, but it was during winter. That camping trip was the only one that was not involved with Camp Interactive. The other two were: The Vermont trip and the last I’ve been at, which was South Dakota. They were two completely different trips. The leaders were great leaders in both trips. Ashley, Bernardo, and Brandon in Vermont. There were three CRAZY but funny guys in South Dakota: Travis, Adam and Rebecca. They were great!!! I will never forget them.