LEOMINSTER - Like her idol, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Rivera hopes some day to be a recording sensation.
" I want to be a singer," Jennifer, 14, said. "I want to make music."
For the last several weeks, Jennifer has been taking singing lessons from Matt Rippere at the Thayer Symphony Orchestra's Community Music School. While her friends think she's good enough for "American Idol," at this point of her career she is settling for Las Vegas.
Out of 1,000 entries, Jennifer will be one of the 150 vocalists vying for a coveted win at the UnSigned Artist World Showcase (or USA World Showcase), being held this weekend, March 25-27, at the MGM Grand Hotel.
Whether she wins or loses, Jennifer plans to have fun, keeping in mind that there will be more competition and singing opportunities in her future.
To audition for the competition, Jennifer had to sing into a telephone for 30 seconds while the other end of the line recorded her voice. With no musical accompaniment whatsoever, Jennifer auditioned with Christina Aguilera's "Lost in the Rain."
Before sending the entry, Jennifer ran around her foster house and made sure everybody heard it. Originally from Fitchburg, Jennifer lives with her foster parents, Mark and Helen Baker of Ashby.
" I hung up and a couple days later they sent me congratulations. You made it. You're going to Las Vegas," she said. "That was cool."
For the competition, Jennifer will don a sparkling, brand-new pink dress with gemstones and will be singing Martina McBride's "God's Will." She will be flying out with Mr. Baker Thursday, March 24, for the weekend competition.
If she wins, Jennifer said she will thank her birth family, as well as her foster family.
Currently a student at Hawthorne Brook Middle School, Townsend, Jennifer plans to enroll at Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School in the fall to pursue a future in nursing and/or cosmetology - that is if the singer career doesn't materialize.
Jennifer, who likes singing Martina McBride songs, as well as the today's hottest hip-hop songs, said one of her favorite songs to sing is Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful." Even though she was a little under the weather, the young, aspiring singer actually recorded a karaoke demo of the song last year at the Deerfield Fair.
" With a cold, with a sore throat, she made people stop as they were walking by," Mr. Baker recalled.
Growing up in a musical household, Jennifer, who has four sisters and two brothers, cites her father, Jorge Rivera of Fitchburg, and two of her sisters, Yolanda and Christina, as major influences.
" They sing really good, too," Jennifer said. "We're all singers. It runs in the family."
When she was a preteen, Jennifer sang solo and in the choir at Leominster United Methodist Church. Her first solo star-turn, which she gave when she was 11, was done in Spanish.
" Sometimes I feel nervous," Jennifer said, "But it felt good at the same time, having people staring at you and showing (off) your voice."
Jennifer y recalls how her father bought her a toy microphone to sing along with the radio. Even at an early age, she would sing songs from her idols, including pop divas Mariah Carey, J.Lo and Christina Aguilera.
" We'll be driving down the road and she'll be flipping the stations. She'll find a song and key into it, just start singing," Mr. Baker said. "And she's good."
Jennifer, who also enjoys horseback riding and songwriting, has a karaoke machine that her foster father bought her so she could practice.
To fund Jennifer's lessons at the Thayer Symphony Orchestra's Community Music School, the state Department of Social Services contacted Rowell Foster Children's Positive Plan.
An advocate for foster children, as well as an Emmy-nominated actress, Victoria Rowell founded the Rowell Foster Children's Positive Plan in 1990, which enriches the lives of foster children through artistic and athletic _expression.
Raised in foster care for 18 years, Rowell co-starred in the hit primetime television series "Diagnosis Murder" for eight seasons while simultaneously continuing her role as Drucilla Winters on the daytime drama, the "Young and the Restless."
LEOMINSTER _ Jennifer Rivera, a vocal student at Thayer Symphony Orchestra, will be competing in the USA World Showcase at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Craig S. Semon

Photos by Craig S. Semon