When Angy Rivera first started speaking out about her status as an undocumented immigrant, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice student found that her honesty gave her power, and helped her find a community.
After she shared her situation in the Daily News in 2012 and explained that she was unable to qualify for state aid, a generous reader even paid for a semester of her tuition.
Now, 25-year-old Rivera's story is being broadcast nationally, in a documentary called "Don't Tell Anyone (No Le Digas a Nadie)" showing on PBS Monday and screening online starting Tuesday until Oct. 21.
"I'm definitely feeling nervous, anxious just because I know there's a lot there. I'm excited to see the conversations that come up," said Rivera, who emigrated from Colombia to New York when she was 3.
The emotional movie, by first-time filmmaker Mikaela Shwer, shows Rivera's poignant journey as a young adult — from giving advice to other undocumented youth in her groundbreaking "Ask Angy" column to her decision to reveal that she was sexually abused by her stepfather as a child.
That secret, which she shared on her YouTube channel, ends up garnering both Rivera and her mom U-visas and legal status as crime victims.
The relationship between Rivera and her mother — who initially doesn't approve of Angy's activism and fears it could get her deported — is the most moving part of the film. Eventually, Rivera's mom Maria also decides to go public with her story, sharing it at a rally as her daughter watches.
Now working at the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and in her last semester at John Jay, Rivera said she will always be an immigrant-rights activist, even if she's no longer undocumented.
She says she has no regrets about going public with her struggles, even though being so vulnerable can be difficult.
"I think sharing so much about yourself has its pros and cons," Rivera said.
"It's definitely tiring. You open yourself up to a lot of judgment," she said.
"But through our stories we've been able to change a lot of the discourse about immigrant rights, on a national level."


The scholarship is named for Daniel Sadofsky, a graduate of Hendrick Hudson HS. He was a long term resident of Peekskill and Cortlandt. Dan was president of the Peekskill RotaryClub in 1990, active in many community organizations and a leading area businessman.
The scholarship was initially funded by gifts to Peekskill Rotary in Dan's memory following his passing in 2008. Dan's wife Suzane Sadofsky, a Peekskill Rotarian, worked to set up eligibility. It was decided to help a graduating senior from Peekskill, Hendrick Hudson or Walter Panas HS who belongs to the school's Interact Club and who is a committed and active volunteer in the community.
Students graduating from the three high schools who will attend a four year college and who are active Interact Club members should talk to their club advisor for information about applying for the scholarship. Information and scholarship applications are available during March each year from the guidance departments of each school.


This online quiz on composers entitled the Famous Composers Quiz enables school students and teachers to test your knowledge of famous American and European Baroque, Romantic and other great composers and their musical compositions.
Our online Famous Composers Quizzes provides elementary, middle and high school music students with the opportunity to test their knowledge about the lives and music of 18 of the world's greatest composers: Bach, Schumann, Rakhmaninov, Handel, Chopin, Debussy, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Beethoven, Grieg, Hanson, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Schubert, Brahms, and Strauss, to the required K-12 standards. Each Great Composers quiz provides 20 questions that change each time you take the quiz. See your quiz score upon completing each quiz, and if you want you can then email your results to yourself. Review your wrong answers and learn and understand why they were wrong.