Ripon Elementary School fifth grader Andrew Rivera is a deep thinker and the sixth of as many brothers and sisters.  His mom doubles as the school librarian and drives him and other children to school every morning.

As they were driving by Colony Oak School on Murphy Road last year, he spotted the school’s mascot Cougar paws on the fence and asked why they couldn’t do something like that for Ripon Elementary and build some student pride in the process.

His plan was to do something that used his school’s mascot Indian head that all could be proud to see when it was added to their school fence.

Andrew — who wants to become a chemist someday — said his mother worked on the project with him as they completed snapping in the plastic cups into the chain link fence.  The 9-year-old is going to be cited for his accomplishment at next week’s meeting of the Ripon Unified School Board. 

Being the youngest in his family, he said his sisters keep him busy with their list of chores for him. He agreed it was like having a number of mothers who all wanted the best for him.