Jaden Rivera lives in Garfield Ridge and went to school at St. Rita, so you might expect him to be a White Sox fan.
Not so.
“I grew up as a Cubs fan because my father lived in Humboldt Park and he was a longtime Cubs fan,” Rivera told Southwest Regional Publishing. “So we were always Cubs fans from the jump.”
He has even more reason to be loyal to the North Side team. Rivera is part of the Cubs Scholars program, which provides financial support and mentoring for inner-city high-school students heading to college. Participants receive a $20,000 scholarship as well as support from the start of their senior year in high school through their undergraduate years in college.
Scholars from the 2020, 2024 and 2025 cycles gathered at Wrigley Field on July 23 to hear a panel discussion on mental health that featured Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins and Ben Zobrist, one of the heroes of the team’s historic 2016 World Series run.
Rivera is a 2024 Scholar who will continue his baseball career at Roosevelt University.
“It means the world,” Rivera said of being part of the program. “Cubs Scholars is more than just financial support. It’s a community. I met so (many) brothers and sisters here that I can call family now, especially going into college. Now I’ve got long-term friendships.”
Rivera’s baseball career also got a boost after he played along with his cousins in the Cubs RBI fall league. Before that, he had less than a handful of junior-college offers.
“But then Cubs RBI got my name out there, got a lot of video of me,” he said. “And just like that, colleges started reaching out tremendously, So I (owe) all that to the Cubs.”
Rivera and the other Cubs Scholars had the chance to pose for photos on the field at the end of the gathering. It was a moment he’ll long remember.
“I eat, sleep and breathe baseball,” Rivera said, “So being on the field that a lot of my dream players played on, like Anthony Rizzo … it’s just a great honor.”
Another Southwest Sider in the 2024 Cubs Scholars class is Yanelly Contreras, who played softball and volleyball at Curie.
Like Rivera, Contreras is a veteran of the Cubs RBI program, most recently the 18U softball team. Unlike Rivera, though, she grew up in a family of White Sox fans.
In any case, Contreras does not plan to play college softball — she’s headed to Illinois State as a finance major.
“It was really hard for me to choose between my career path and softball,” she said. “… I still think to this day I want to continue (playing).
“But I know that life is going to hit me hard and I just have to go with my career.”
Picking a college wasn’t always an easy process.
“But once I had my visit to Illinois State, I loved it,” Contreras said. “I loved the diversity and it wasn’t too far from home. I’m very family-oriented, so it’s kind of hard to spread my wings. … But overall, the whole process went easier with Cubs … Scholars. They honestly helped me the whole way through.”