On the night of Nov. 9, Ian Rivera’s younger sister was choking on a Mardi Gras bead. Rivera quickly reacted and applied the Heimlich maneuver on his sister, expelling the foreign object from her windpipe.

Rivera stated “I heard her choking and went to see what was happening. I started giving her the Heimlich. My dad was in the back.”

Rivera received the Air Force Silver Valor Award for his courage and quick, reasonable reaction to the aforementioned events.

Rivera resides in Ormond Estates in Destrehan. He is the son of Eric and Jolyn Rivera. This is his first year in the Air force JROTC and is involved in all the community activities that this organization hosts. Rivera plans to continue his career of success and graduate Destrehan High with the Honors Diploma.

After graduating, his plan is

to attend UCLA and major in criminal justice. Rivera stated “I did

not expect to be recognized as

much as I have been, but it does feel nice.”