Interview by Gainesville High School Junior and Abernathy Cochran Intern Kate Willis
Meet Roberto Rivera! Roberto is currently the Freshman Administrator at Gainesville High School and has recently been selected to be the new principal. He lived in Puerto Rico, New York City, and the state of Delaware up until the age of 19 when he decided to serve in the military and go the junior college route. In 1996, he got his first teaching opportunity, and he and his wife now have five children and have been married for more than 30 years. He has been working at Gainesville High for five years.
Question: What inspired you to become Principal?
Answer: “I’m really passionate about making sure I maximize my opportunities, so when I became an administrator my goal was to at some point interview for a principal position. When I got here, I was the alternative school director, and I just fell in love with the school. It fits me; the students and the families that we have. The community is kind of a ‘blue-collar’ community, and I feel like that is what I am. The diversity is awesome, the kids are awesome. I have seen the growth of the school and how Mr. Green has impacted it. I just want to be able to be an asset to the school and be able to enhance what we already do and take it to the next level.”
Q: What is your favorite restaurant in Hall County, and what do you love there?
A: “My wife likes Olive Garden; we frequent there whenever we get an opportunity to get away for a few hours by ourselves. I usually try a little bit of everything.”
Q: How long have you lived or worked in Hall County?
A: “5 years.”
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met in Hall County and why?
A: “I would say Mr. Jeremy Green. I don’t think a lot of people see him in different ways, but he’s very interesting. He has a lot of funny stories, and he seems to be an overall interesting guy.”
Q: What is your favorite childhood memory?
A: “Graduating highschool. It’s so valuable to me because I know that I always had one foot in and one foot out.”
Q: If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would it be and why?
A: “I haven’t been to Spain; I would like to go to Barcelona.”
Q: What is the first movie you remember seeing in a theater?
A: “Probably ‘Ghostbusters,’ the original one.”
Q: What advice would you give a crowd of people?
A: “Be careful what you say; there are always people listening, and you never know when information is going to get to other folks.”
Q: What is something on your bucket list?
A: “My wife would say that I’m pretty boring; I’m a home-body. I’m not trying to climb any mountains and I don’t like to fly, so I can’t say I have any big things on my bucket list.”
Q: What is your favorite music/ three bands you would like to see (dead or alive)?
A: “I’m a radio guy; I like listening to talk shows, and I’m not much of a music person. But the music I do enjoy is the music I was raised with, so I would say early 90s rap songs and Latin music artists like Héctor Lavoe.”
Q: Choosing anyone (past or present and a non relative) with whom would you love to have lunch?
A: “When I was 15, I was a homeless student. My parents decided to relocate to a different state, and I did not want to move. I knew if I went back I would have the same fate as some of my other siblings. I’m the youngest of my siblings, so I watched all 12 of them not graduate high school, some of which did not even make it to middle school. In Hispanic culture, sometimes when you are 14 or 15 they let you make adult decisions, so I made the conscious decision to stay. That summer I was lucky enough that I got to work at McDonalds and earn enough money to buy my first little vehicle. I usually used it when I didn’t stay with somebody. There was a family, and the father’s name was Charlie Valentine. He was a night custodian supervisor at the highschool I was going to who knew a custodian that was a family friend of mine. I was having success as an athlete, and as they were talking he mentioned to Charlie that I was homeless. Then one day Charlie Valentine out of the blue just looked at the other custodian and said ‘tell him I have an extra room in my house. My daughter just finished college, she’s gone, and there’s an extra room. As long as he comes and wants to go to school and do the right thing, he can stay with us.’ He took me in for my last 2 years of high school, and I’ve always been thankful to him and his family. He has since passed, but I would want to take him to lunch to give him the opportunity to see where I’ve come because of that opportunity he gave me. Who knows where my life would have been had he not given me that chance.”
Q: What is your favorite thing about Hall County?
A: “I love the diversity. When I go to Walmart, Publix, or the little area over by the Atlanta Highway called ‘Little Mexico’, it always feels homey.”
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?
A: “Retired; I would love to buy a home in Puerto Rico.”
Q: What three words mean “Home” to you?
A: “Family. Security. Love.”
Q: If you were cast into a major motion picture and had your choice of anyone to be your co-star, who would you choose?
A: “Sylvester Stallone.”
Q: If you had a full-time staff member that was fully paid for, who would you choose?
A: “A driver, like a chauffeur.”
