[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 8962]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    REMEMBERING FELIX WILLIAM RIVERA

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the memory of a great 
Nevada educator and coach, Felix William Rivera. Felix, a physical and 
health education teacher in the Clark County School District in Las 
Vegas, NV, was involved in a fatal car accident on February 8, 2007.
  Felix proudly lived in the Las Vegas metropolitan area all of his 
life. He graduated from Basic High School in 1991 and the University of 
Nevada, Las Vegas in 1996 with degrees in secondary education and 
sports medicine and certification in athletic training. As a student 
teacher, Felix was selected as a Distinguished Student Teacher of the 
Year Award. He began his teaching career at Swainston Middle School in 
1997, and thereafter served as a Physical Education Coach and Athletic 
Trainer at Western High School and Health Teacher and Athletic Trainer 
at Desert Pines High School.
  Felix went above and beyond his job responsibilities in order to 
provide students with the opportunity to learn and succeed. He spent 
countless hours treating students who had limited access to health 
care. Oftentimes, he would arrive early to school in order to provide 
treatments, limited therapy, or counseling to students who simply 
needed a listening ear. Felix had outstanding listening skills and 
frequently utilized his networking base to connect students with the 
proper resources. As one of his former students noted, ``Not only did 
Mr. Rivera teach health, he also taught us about life and steps we 
needed to take in order to become successful.'' A fellow teacher at 
Desert Pines High School described him as a ``role model for students 
who took great pride in every lesson that he taught.'' A teacher and 
friend further commented on his congenial personality, ``He was the 
kind of person who had an innate ability to get right to the point, an 
ear-to-ear smile that was contagious and a well-known sense of humor.''
  It is clear that Felix was a dedicated educator, a role model, and a 
mentor who left a lasting impression on his students. On April 18, 
2007, family, friends, students, and colleagues will honor his legacy 
by dedicating a mural with the words ``hard as steel with a heart of 
gold'' in the training room at Desert Pines High School, where he spent 
much of his time counseling students. I join in honoring Felix and 
extend my deepest sympathies to his family and friends, especially his 
wife and high school sweetheart, Alice ``Cookie'' Masterson and 
children, Anthony and Felicia. He is deeply missed and his service and 
dedication to the students of Clark County will always be greatly 
appreciated.

                          ____________________