Youth Enrichment Services (YES) is excited to share stories of YES alumni who continue to utilize the experiences and lessons they received from their time with YES. YES recently had the chance to sit down and talk with one of our amazing alumni, Dylan Perez.
Dylan first became involved with YES at the age of 13 as part of the YES Operation SnowSports program. He quickly realized he wanted to get more involved, and the following year became a part of the Junior Volunteer Program (now known as the Leadership Corps program). Dylan remained with YES throughout high school in the JRV program, volunteering on weekends as a snowboard instructor. He even had the opportunity to work with YES one summer, he received the job through the JFK program. After graduating in 2013, Dylan remained involved with YES as a snowboard instructor for several years.
During his time at YES, Dylan learned how to better interact with and understand kids. When remembering his time instructing snowboarding, he said, “I learned how to motivate them, engage them, have fun with them and entertain them. It helped with my leadership skills a lot.”
His favorite memory was interviewing for a job at YES. Dylan said, “It was a very competitive pool with 30 applicants and only five of us got the jobs. I found it very interesting to hear what everyone else could bring to the table.”
Dylan’s experience at YES helped him learn how to set goals for himself. He said, “I learned how to set goals, not to start with a huge goal, but set milestones along the way. I had a really good support system at YES, people were always checking up on me.”
Currently, Dylan works as a professional pipefitter Pipefitters Local 537 in Boston. He is also currently pursuing a bachelors in project management. For fun, he still enjoys snowboarding frequently at Sunday River.