Victoria Rivas

Computer Programming

Victoria Rivas currently teaches Software Design at ITT Tech in Johnson City. She was a computer programmer for 25 years working on projects as varied as missiles, video games and fashion design systems. If you'd like, you can check out her entire Resume. 

She has recently begun dabbling in video game design. Her games on Kodu Game Lab caught the interest of the site, where they did a feature article about her!

Mathematics

Victoria is a certified Professional Teacher in Mathematics, grades 7-12 in both Tennessee where she taught for two years and Connecticut where she taught for five years. Her specialities are Geometry, Algebra and Middle School Math. She has worked with all levels of students including inclusion classes. She believes in project based math and you can see many of those projects here.  

Martial Arts

Kyo Sa Nim Victoria Rivas has three decades of Martial Arts training and holds black belts in three organizations. She has trained in Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do and Kenpo. Her experience includes:

• Tang Soo Do Masters Alliance, under Master Garth Charland at the Charland Institute of Karate and Fitness in Watertown, CT and Grandmaster David Sgro of Fayetteville, NC of the U.S. Goodwill Tang Soo Do Association.
• Excel Martial Arts, under Master Andy D'Amato where she competed on the IPPONE tournament circuit and received 2nd place in forms and 2nd place in fighting in Senior Women Black Belt division in 2009.
• World Tang Soo Do Association, under Grandmaster Robert Beaudoin at Beaudoin Academy of Karate, where she coached the demo team and taught children's beginner and advanced classes.
• Tae Kwon Do under Mr. Tim Kirby, Mr. Billye "Jack" Jackson and Mr. Ray McCallum in Garland, Texas were she competed in the Dallas area on the AOK circuit.

Creative Writing

Victoria’s poetry has been published in many print publications and anthologies. Her poem Keisha's Gone, took 43rd place, in the 77th Annual Writing Competition, in the Rhyming Poem category and her poem Young Adults took 1^st honorable mention in the 2011 Split This Rock Poetry Festival contest. She has one chapbook, Doing Laundry, from Ye Olde Font Shoppe and is currently submitting a second book, Yo Miss! I Need a Pencil!, which includes both prose and poetry.

Victoria has performed her poetry across CT and western NY. She was an alternate on the 1998 CT Slam Team. She also sponsored The Association of the Arts at West Greene High School for two years where they published a journal and put on a poetry slam!