Macy Murtagh 

A true YES veteran,Macy Murtagh, a resident of Dorchester and a Boston Latin Academy student, has been involved with YES programs for over a decade!

In 2007, Macy had her first ski trip with Operation SnowSports – where she discovered her love for outdoor challenges and meeting new people. Since then, Macy has also been a member of YES’s Outdoor Adventure, Leadership Corps, College Prep, and the YES Ambassadors programs.

Most recently, Macy was the Youth Leader of the YES Ambassador group – a group of YES teen leaders who meet each month to practice their public speaking skills and develop their personal story through workshops and speaking opportunities. As a Youth Leader, Macy coordinated monthly workshops and worked 1 on 1 with youth to develop their speeches for YES events. Macy says, “YES helped me develop skills I will use for the rest of my life. Every week I learned new leadership skills, professional, and life skills.”

Passionate about helping people, Macy looks forward to majoring in Psychology at UMass Boston in the fall.

Varsha Perkins

Varsha, a Jamaica Plain resident and senior at Boston Latin Academy, has been participating in YES programs since 8th grade. As a middle school girl, Varsha participated in YES’s Operation SnowSports and Girls Outdoor Adventure Leaders (GOAL) program. Varsha says her involvement with YES’s girls-only program helped her build self-confidence and shape her into the young leader she is today.

Varsha continued to develop her leadership skills as a Teen Leader with the GOAL program, a role she filled from 2015 through 2018. As a Teen Leader with the GOAL program , Varsha helped plan and lead activities for GOAL and served as a positive role model to the girls. She says, “ I wanted to show other girls that as long as they are confident, they can do anything.” Varsha has also worked as a teen staff member with YES’s Outdoor Adventure program for the past four summers. Looking back at her time with YES, Varsha says, “YES has changed and prepared me for the better – helping to prepare me for my next steps in life.”

Inspired by her experiences working with youth at YES, Varsha aspires to become an elementary school teacher and will be attending college in the fall.

 Jacelys Suazo

Jacelys, a Roxbury resident and Cristo Rey student, has been an Administrative Assistant with YES since her freshman year. Jacelys is a member of Cristo Rey’s Work Study program. This program allows students to work at offices in the Boston area in exchange for a tuition scholarship.

Over the past four years, Jacelys has tackled countless administrative projects for YES. She has become a leader and a role model to other teens at the organization, and has quickly become the administrative point-person at YES.

Jacelys’s experience at YES has helped prepare her for the workforce and opened her eyes to the power of community service. She says, “YES has helped me mature, build character, and gain the tools to be a leader. I now understand that it is our responsibility to help our community without expecting anything in return.” In the fall, Jacelys will attend Framingham State College, where she will study Computer Science. She hopes to use the leadership skills she learned at YES to become a business owner.