President Chiarello Presents Check to Recipient of Nelson Rivera Scholarship Award at SOMOS

NOVEMBER 8—While in Puerto Rico for the SOMOS conference, President John V. Chiarello on Friday presented a young doctorate student with the Nelson Rivera Scholarship Award in the amount of $5,000.

The student, Kenneth Pol-Rodriguez, attends Nova Southeastern University as a first-year graduate student after receiving his undergraduate degree in Medical Microbiology from University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo, where he maintained a 3.49 grade point average and was on the Dean’s List for all four years. He is expected to graduate as a Doctor of Pharmacy in 2029.

Carmen Flores, who is on the SOMOS Board of Directors, described Pol-Rodriguez’s activism, pointing out that the student had recently gone to Congress to advocate for college students to receive SNAP benefits so they could get proper nutrition while studying to become the next wave of leaders.

President Chiarello described Nelson Rivera’s contributions to not only Local 100 but also Puerto Rico, noting that Rivera was battling cancer as he devoted himself to helping the island’s people after the devastation of 2017’s Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm.

“When you say his legacy lives on, that’s the important part. Because now a young man is going to receive a check, and it’s not about the money, it’s about giving forward,” said President Chiarello. ”Maybe this young gentleman will be a senator, maybe he’ll cure cancer. Whatever he does, it’ll be in memory of someone who’s very near and dear to this union, and I want to carry that forward.”

“There’s no doubt about this, this guy was a fighter, but when you would talk to him on the side he was a gentleman, a scholar, and he fought like hell and I want that to live on,” President Chiarello said about Rivera, before shaking Pol-Rodriguez’s hand and wishing him well.