SUMMER (2001) STAFF BIOS

Administration

Arlene Sierra-Perez (Program Director)
Arlene Perez has been a long-time supporter of Generation Xcel, but it was in February 2001 that she started working there as Program Director, implementing a greater educational focus within the Xcel curriculum. Born and raised in the Lower East Side, and herself a product of local after school programs, Arlene graduated from Messiah College in 1987 with a degree in Theatre and Business Administration, and has worked with various children's agencies in the years since. Most recently, she coordinated a literacy program for a local elementary school where business workers volunteered to read to children on their lunch hours. In addition, she has worked with the Kidz' Rock Children's Ministry for nine years, worked on staff at Henry Street Settlement, and has served in various capacities on her daughters' PTAs. Arlene looks forward to expanding Xcel's hours, mobilizing an active Parents' Committee, and developing a career referral center for neighborhood teens and adults. Her hobbies include photography, decorating, writing, dancing, and theatre, and she volunteers as a substance abuse counselor for the Victorious Overcomers Support Group.

Luis Velez (Assistant Director)
As an Xcel co-founder and longest tenured Xcel staff member, Luis has watched Generation Xcel grow from an organization that justified its existence based on great intentions to one that prides itself on great results. (More coming soon)

Dorothy Rivera (Assistant Director)
Dorothy graduated from Cornell University in May with a degree in Educational Psychology and promptly returned to Generation Xcel, where she interned last summer. As assistant director, Dorothy splits her time with the children and managing various administrative functions, such as curriculum development, intern orientation, and registration. Her programming specialties include group dialogues, drama, and dance. In college, Dorothy served as a resident assistant and as president of Omega Phi Beta, an educational sorority focused on such issues as women's rights, domestic abuse, and child welfare. She intends on enrolling in medical school in the fall of 2002. Dorothy's many hobbies including rollerblading, running, karate, sports, health and nutrition, writing poetry, drawing, photography, and singing, and she hopes to one day learn how to play the drums as well.

Summer Interns

Mei-Ling Garcia
Calling Mei-Ling an intern is almost a misnomer, as she is one of Xcel's co-founders and has been an on-again, off-again staff member since 1996. After completing her junior year at Hunter College this spring, Mei-Ling decided to return to Xcel for the summer as the unofficial Head Counselor. In addition, Mei-Ling is drafting the official Xcel Program and Staff Manual, which will become the foundational document for any future Generation Xcel centers. Her direct involvement with the children includes coordinating the dance class and overseeing the Health and Nutrition theme week, as well as work with arts and crafts. She recognizes that she gets from the children as much as, if not more than, she gives, and loves the one-on-one relationships so prevalent at Generation Xcel. She's fond of saying how she wouldn't mind taking some of the children home with her, and appreciates how much Xcel's activities and programs have evolved since the early days in 1996.

Tristan Brooks
This summer marks Tristan's sixth anniversary at Xcel. She first volunteered in the fall of 1996 as a junior high student, and has literally grown up in the program. After paying her dues as a perennial volunteer, Tristan became one of Xcel's first three, paid peer counselors at Xcel After School in February 2001. After discovering that Tristan was accepted into a very competitive creative writing program at New School University beginning in fall 2001, Xcel drafted her to become its resident scribe. Thus her summer is being divided, with up to half of each week spent with the children, and the other half with pen and paper (or computer keyboard) writing features and planning the contents for the "Goodies" section of the website. Tristan hopes to one day publish a youth newspaper through Xcel.

Kimberly Saraga
Kimberly is a new face at Xcel. Although her roots are in the Lower East Side, Kimberly currently lives in the Bronx but doesn't mind the commute because of the satisfaction she gets working with the kids. In fact, she claims she wants to work at Xcel forever; we'll see if she still feels that way in August. Kimberly oversees Reading Team, a new program at Xcel, and supervises library outings and lunchtime. Her favorite skill acquired so far this summer is ripping duct tape, a skill she was unable to master for a long time. When not at Xcel, Kimberly volunteers at the Apple's Core Coffee House, a homeless outreach run by her church, and sings in a gospel choir. Her hobbies include reading and drawing, and she anticipates attending Nyack College in the fall.

Enid
Enid graduated from New York University in May 2001. (coming soon)

Summer Youth Employment Program

This summer Generation Xcel was approved as a site for the City of New York's Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP). SYEP funds six junior interns, high school students who want to make a positive impact in their community.

Rachel G.
This is Rachel's second summer at Generation Xcel, and hopefully not her last. As a volunteer last year, Rachel mostly interacted with the kids, playing games and helping out as needed. This year, as an SYEP intern, her duties include assisting the Choir (new this summer), supervising the "Pythons" Group Club team, assisting Dance and Drama, and performing office duties such as answering phones and registering children. Always eager to try new things, Rachel's true passion is singing. She attends LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts (think "Fame") where she majors in voice and plays piano. Rachel sings in her church choir, and has helped coordinate various children's choirs and drama teams since junior high school. One of Xcel's youngest staff members, Rachel loves children and hopes to show them how much she cares by making Xcel a place they can run to when they have nowhere else to turn.

Daniel C.
Daniel is another new face on the Xcel scene, referred to the program by a friend at Henry Street Settlement. Unlike most of the staff who hail from the Lower East Side, David travels everyday from Brooklyn. A junior at Transit Tech High School, David loves to build and fix computers and hopes to become a computer technician major in college. Despite being new to Xcel, he is already one of the supervisors of the "Pythons" Group Club team, and has hit it off well with the kids. David believes in the Xcel vision and hopes his internship is only the beginning of a long-term relationship. He already plans to spend the next three years running Xcel activities and hanging out with the kids. Along with computers, David also enjoys sports, especially basketball. David has developed a reputation as a jokester with the kids and hopes to be a good role model for Xcel's boys.

Anthony P.
(coming soon)

Volunteers

Emily Olivieri
Emily Olivieri, a sophomore at Fashion Institute of Technology majoring in fashion design (women's apparel), organizes many of Xcel's arts and crafts projects on a volunteer basis. She enjoys making arts and crafts lively and fun, teaching the children about different mediums and different methods of expressing themselves through art. Emily likes children most when she can give them back, but admits that the Generation Xcel campers are very well behaved and good kids at heart. She hopes to work Xcel After School, if her schedule permits, and wants to see Xcel develop a more advanced art program for children who aspire to pursuing it as a career.

Eden Martinez (Junior Volunteer)
Last summer, Eden was a day camper; this year, she's a junior volunteer. She loves the idea that this might be her last summer spent taking orders from the staff instead of giving them, and helps out with many of activities, including Reading Team, choir, drama, and creative writing. Eden hopes one day to attend NYU Film School and become a director, and intends to get accepted on the strength of an amateur documentary about Generation Xcel that she wants to create. Pretty soon, you may find video streams of her work at this very website. In addition to writing and acting, Eden's hobbies include computers, video games, and leveling with the kids, as she was one only a year ago. Eden provides regular comic relief and has a kind of cheer that can only be described as "insane."