ITEM DETAILS
photograph
My work experience
Future of Work
The Chronicles of SYEP
My name is Haily Perez. I am in Younger Youth of SYEP, known as YY. During school, when I first heard about SYEP and having a job, I was so excited. For the experience, and also for the money. I couldn't wait! I was hoping to meet new people.
It also had me thinking a lot about my future. You know how people tell you that for future jobs, it's always best to have prior experience. Especially because certain jobs require it.
When SYEP first started, i was scared, and confused. All the meetings and emails, I was scared I wouldn't keep up, I wouldn't get in, something would go wrong, so many thoughts overflowing my mind.
For the last online meeting during April, I was in the middle of cheer practice. My meeting was in the morning, and I had a tournament so I was practicing for it. I went on break so i could join my meeting at exactly 9. It wouldn't let me join... I immediately emailed my meeting supervisor, terrified the whole thing would've been for nothing. Thankfully, after many emails with someone who works for CASW, I found out I was able to continue with my process.
When it was time to pick our job, after a while of browsing MetaBronx was the only one that caught my eye. It had the description of teamwork, and working together. Which is definitely something I was looking for, so I chose it.
Thankfully, me and my two friends all picked MetaBronx. I didn't wanna go alone, especially because I was scared of not being able to make friends.
When it was time to start in person, there was so much going on. It was an overwhelming time. On the website they have for SYEP, It said our first day was July 13 2026 at 11am. Me and my friends showed up and we were looking around, and we saw a door with a paper saying MetaBronx on it, but the door was closed. We knocked on the door, called the website, knocked on other doors, etc. We could barely even get in the building. Every time we called the website, they either wouldn't answer the phone or would put us on hold. The times they did answer, we would get repetitive answers which would continuously lead us back to square 1. Eventually, we were able to get in contact with our supervisor and found out our first meet day was actually the day after, Tuesday July 14. That day was a long day for everyone.
The next day we all came in, and it was a bit overwhelming. There were so many people. Sitting down, walking around, coming in, trying to talk to us, etc. It was expected of course. I saw lots of new faces and people.
Our second day was online, we had to do a survey. The survey consisted of options of what we wanted to do most. We had several options and had to rate them 1-6 based on what we wanted to do most. Out of all, I ended up choosing product management.
For the second week, we wrote a story. I wrote a story about AI, and how it is negatively affecting our world. We wrote it to start practicing for our presentation.
For our 3rd week we got put into our groups, and I was placed in Product Management. That week we talked and learned about our placement and other things about CASW, and got our schedules changed. For the first two weeks, we worked every Tuesday. By our 3rd week, our schedules were changed to every Friday.
For the week July 31st, me and my friends did not receive our paycheck. For the 4th week, I had to make a list of names of people that had been having payment issues. There were a total of 8 names. With that list, me and my management team had to text each of them individually to figure out what their payment issues were and update their status on the list. Me and another girl split the work evenly.
That was a part I liked a lot about my job. I like managing, I like helping people, I like guiding people, I like taking lead. So, I didn't mind the work, it was actually enjoyable.
Every week we would have about an hour lunch break. On that lunch break me and my friends would go get food and laugh and talk, which was a great part of this, being able to experience this with my friends.
I wish I was able to talk to more people and make more friends. But overall, I don't have any complaints about my job or my experience, I just wish there weren't as many difficulties as there were, but things happen.
It also had me thinking a lot about my future. You know how people tell you that for future jobs, it's always best to have prior experience. Especially because certain jobs require it.
When SYEP first started, i was scared, and confused. All the meetings and emails, I was scared I wouldn't keep up, I wouldn't get in, something would go wrong, so many thoughts overflowing my mind.
For the last online meeting during April, I was in the middle of cheer practice. My meeting was in the morning, and I had a tournament so I was practicing for it. I went on break so i could join my meeting at exactly 9. It wouldn't let me join... I immediately emailed my meeting supervisor, terrified the whole thing would've been for nothing. Thankfully, after many emails with someone who works for CASW, I found out I was able to continue with my process.
When it was time to pick our job, after a while of browsing MetaBronx was the only one that caught my eye. It had the description of teamwork, and working together. Which is definitely something I was looking for, so I chose it.
Thankfully, me and my two friends all picked MetaBronx. I didn't wanna go alone, especially because I was scared of not being able to make friends.
When it was time to start in person, there was so much going on. It was an overwhelming time. On the website they have for SYEP, It said our first day was July 13 2026 at 11am. Me and my friends showed up and we were looking around, and we saw a door with a paper saying MetaBronx on it, but the door was closed. We knocked on the door, called the website, knocked on other doors, etc. We could barely even get in the building. Every time we called the website, they either wouldn't answer the phone or would put us on hold. The times they did answer, we would get repetitive answers which would continuously lead us back to square 1. Eventually, we were able to get in contact with our supervisor and found out our first meet day was actually the day after, Tuesday July 14. That day was a long day for everyone.
The next day we all came in, and it was a bit overwhelming. There were so many people. Sitting down, walking around, coming in, trying to talk to us, etc. It was expected of course. I saw lots of new faces and people.
Our second day was online, we had to do a survey. The survey consisted of options of what we wanted to do most. We had several options and had to rate them 1-6 based on what we wanted to do most. Out of all, I ended up choosing product management.
For the second week, we wrote a story. I wrote a story about AI, and how it is negatively affecting our world. We wrote it to start practicing for our presentation.
For our 3rd week we got put into our groups, and I was placed in Product Management. That week we talked and learned about our placement and other things about CASW, and got our schedules changed. For the first two weeks, we worked every Tuesday. By our 3rd week, our schedules were changed to every Friday.
For the week July 31st, me and my friends did not receive our paycheck. For the 4th week, I had to make a list of names of people that had been having payment issues. There were a total of 8 names. With that list, me and my management team had to text each of them individually to figure out what their payment issues were and update their status on the list. Me and another girl split the work evenly.
That was a part I liked a lot about my job. I like managing, I like helping people, I like guiding people, I like taking lead. So, I didn't mind the work, it was actually enjoyable.
Every week we would have about an hour lunch break. On that lunch break me and my friends would go get food and laugh and talk, which was a great part of this, being able to experience this with my friends.
I wish I was able to talk to more people and make more friends. But overall, I don't have any complaints about my job or my experience, I just wish there weren't as many difficulties as there were, but things happen.
Bronx, NY
March-August 2026
photgraph and text by Haily Perez
photograph | experience | job | Innovation Summer 2026 | new | syep | CASW | MetaBronx | management | troubleshooting
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