Bela Riveros, the first recipient of a scholarship honoring longtime Milwaukee PBS engineer Ron Pellegrini, is his kindred spirit
Ron Pellegrini would have loved Bela Riveros.Pellegrini, a highly respected engineer at Milwaukee PBS, never met Riveros, a student in MATC’s Television and Video Production program. But they would have been kindred spirits, both quiet, unassuming souls endlessly fascinated by the connections between technology and creativity.
As a child, the story goes, Pellegrini dismantled his sister’s Easy-Bake Oven to determine how it worked. He replaced the incandescent light bulbs that served as the oven’s heat source with higher wattage bulbs. (The oven promptly melted.) As a student at Milwaukee Public Schools’ Milwaukee High School of the Arts, Riveros built her own computer.
So it’s apt that Riveros is the first recipient of the Ron Pellegrini Scholarship, started by the engineer’s family after his death in September 2023 at 68.
The scholarship is for students in the Television and Video Production program who have completed their first year.
“The family wanted to see the most fervent students be recognized, the students who are as passionate about the profession as Ron was,”
Kevin Pulz, Department Chair, Television and Video Production and Digital Content Creation programs at MATC
Riveros, who grew up in Milwaukee, shares Pellegrini’s commitment and dedication, according to her instructors.
“Bela is very reserved, which caught me off guard initially, but behind that demeanor is an incredibly competent, intelligent and technically adept person,”
Daniel Brown, Instructor
“Ron was also a quiet force, exceptional in his knowledge and skills, and a kind, well-liked person on the team. Bela is an excellent example of continuing that presence and excellence into her future, honoring the memory of Ron.”
A legacy of excellence
Easily the most technically astute engineer on the Milwaukee PBS staff, Pellegrini’s acumen of cameras, lenses, shading, and radio frequency coordination for live production was unrivaled, Pulz said.
“He was so respected throughout the industry,” Pulz said. “When he signed on with us, it was a pretty big coup. He also had a real zeal to help students and was always willing to share his expertise in and out of the classroom. When Ron died, we lost a great ally in taking students to the next level.
“The instructional supervision provided by our inclusion in the Milwaukee PBS facility and family is unique and quite special,” Pulz added. “Ron and all employees here have been integral in the professional and academic development of our students.”
Pulz and Robert Holland, donor and alumni relations coordinator at the MATC Foundation, the philanthropic partner of the college, worked with the Pellegrini family to establish the scholarship, which awards $500 each semester.
Bela Riveros (opposite) shares a fascination with technology and creativity with Ron Pellegrini (left), the late Milwaukee PBS engineer who inspired many television and video students with his expertise and passion for the craft.
The right place
“Bela loves the engineering side of production, and that has elated the Pellegrini family,” Pulz said.Riveros grew up in Milwaukee and considered a career in photography while at Milwaukee High School of the Arts. Her older sister was an artist and attended the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, so Riveros, an avid gamer, took the opposite path and pursued engineering after she graduated in 2018.
She studied computer engineering at Milwaukee School of Engineering for two years before the COVID-19 pandemic sent her back home.
“I’m a very hands-on learner, and online courses didn’t work for me,” she said.
Riveros watched a lot of television during the pandemic and became keenly interested in the inner workings of the medium.
“I knew I wanted to do something that was visual, creative, and technical,” she said.
She enrolled at MATC in the fall of 2023.
“I decided I would try it, then reassess my path if I had to,” she said. “But I ended up loving it.”
She said she enjoys the technical aspects of producing shows and thrives in the fraught environment of live television.
“It can be stressful; it can be tough,” she said. “You have to really like it to do it. But I knew after a month that I was in the right place.”
Along with her technical prowess, Riveros has become a classroom leader, said Lauren Hill, another television and video instructor.
“I told the students in one class that they were in charge of doing rehearsal for the show of that day, and Bela took full charge,” Hill recalled. “It’s been incredible watching her grow.”
Riveros made the dean’s list in the Fall 2023 semester. Last summer, she worked as a studio aide at Milwaukee PBS and as a producer at Live at the Lakefront, a weekly livestream of band concerts at Milwaukee’s Discovery World museum.
She started her second year in the fall of 2024. She produced the popular Milwaukee PBS holiday show Letters from Santa and received a $1,000 scholarship funded by the League of United.
Latin American Citizens (LULAC) Council 333, the Milwaukee Brewers Community Foundation and the MATC Foundation.
Getting the LULAC scholarship was nice, but receiving the first Pellegrini scholarship was an honor, she said.
“This scholarship is special,” Riveros said. “Ron was someone everyone liked, and all his family and friends have great memories of him. I was very touched to get this. With this, I felt accepted into the TV family.”