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writing
My summer work experience
Future of Work
SYEP Summer Work Experience
At the beginning of summer my older brother told me about SYEP and he told me to apply for the program and so I did.
After a while I was sent an email saying that I was selected for the program and I was happy because that would mean that I would be making money over the summer. I filled out all the steps the program needed me to, and on April 7th they sent me an email saying before my first orientation session I had to complete the Hats & Ladders assignments, and it also said that I was in cohort B, which means that I started on the 13th of July.
After I completed the assignments, they wanted me to join meetings for the next 3 weeks. Each week came and went, until I received an email saying to choose my SYEP Summer Project, there were many options like Cooking Through Literacy, Making Money Movers, Green Thumb, and more. The Summer Project that I chose was called MetaBronx, and after choosing the project all I had to do now was wait.
The 13th of July came fast, and so I went to the place I was supposed to go but then I found out that I was supposed to start on July 14th instead of the 13th. I went the next day like I was supposed to, and when I got there we had to wait for more people to come and after they came, we were being told what we are going to be doing for the next 5 weeks and we were interviewed so we can placed in teams and after that we all went home.
The following week we came back on Tuesday and we were working on an assignment on a website called The Glass Files, it was to get used to it because that was a website that we are going to use for the last two weeks of this program.
During the week I was sent a message saying that I was placed on the software team and instead of coming on Tuesdays I would start coming on Wednesdays. So the next week I came on Wednesday and I brought my computer because I was going to do coding and we were getting used to coding and we were sent some websites to practice coding. That was also what we did for the following week, practice coding but the older youth were working on a more advanced project. The week after we are writing and getting ready to present for the last week of the program.
Throughout my time at SYEP has been fun because of the coding and other things I did in MetaBronx; it was also nerve-wracking because I was very nervous to start working over the summer.
SYEP got me used to working over the summer and there were times where I got lazy and didn’t want to go to work but I remembered that my pay depends on the hours I do and so I forced myself to get up and go.
I’m glad that I was able to get into SYEP because it made me learn many things that I would need in life.
After a while I was sent an email saying that I was selected for the program and I was happy because that would mean that I would be making money over the summer. I filled out all the steps the program needed me to, and on April 7th they sent me an email saying before my first orientation session I had to complete the Hats & Ladders assignments, and it also said that I was in cohort B, which means that I started on the 13th of July.
After I completed the assignments, they wanted me to join meetings for the next 3 weeks. Each week came and went, until I received an email saying to choose my SYEP Summer Project, there were many options like Cooking Through Literacy, Making Money Movers, Green Thumb, and more. The Summer Project that I chose was called MetaBronx, and after choosing the project all I had to do now was wait.
The 13th of July came fast, and so I went to the place I was supposed to go but then I found out that I was supposed to start on July 14th instead of the 13th. I went the next day like I was supposed to, and when I got there we had to wait for more people to come and after they came, we were being told what we are going to be doing for the next 5 weeks and we were interviewed so we can placed in teams and after that we all went home.
The following week we came back on Tuesday and we were working on an assignment on a website called The Glass Files, it was to get used to it because that was a website that we are going to use for the last two weeks of this program.
During the week I was sent a message saying that I was placed on the software team and instead of coming on Tuesdays I would start coming on Wednesdays. So the next week I came on Wednesday and I brought my computer because I was going to do coding and we were getting used to coding and we were sent some websites to practice coding. That was also what we did for the following week, practice coding but the older youth were working on a more advanced project. The week after we are writing and getting ready to present for the last week of the program.
Throughout my time at SYEP has been fun because of the coding and other things I did in MetaBronx; it was also nerve-wracking because I was very nervous to start working over the summer.
SYEP got me used to working over the summer and there were times where I got lazy and didn’t want to go to work but I remembered that my pay depends on the hours I do and so I forced myself to get up and go.
I’m glad that I was able to get into SYEP because it made me learn many things that I would need in life.
381 Canal Place, Bronx, New York
written August 12th, 2026
Gael Galeana
photograph by Philip Shearer, taken at the Bronx Innovation Center
This item is shared by Gael Galeana
with
the Community and the World.