A new afterschool program called Keep Youth Doing Something (KYDS) is giving students like junior Nemesi Morales a safe space to engage in different activities outside of the classroom. 

“I fell in love with the program and I like coming here just to destress and have fun…it’s just really fun to be here,” said Morales, who is a part of the dance program.

This year, KYDS opened its doors to students five days a week. They offer students many opportunities to do different activities and participate in extracurriculars outside of school. Some of the main activities students participate in are dance, driver’s education, building Legos and esports. 

“I hope to bring a community to Daniel Pearl,” Head Coach Corey Nuñez said. “I want you guys to feel like you can always walk in here and do something instead of just being bored or going home right away.”

Nuñez has been working with KYDS, which is a federally funded organization and is supplemented by a variety of grants and donations, for three months. While Nuñez is in charge of the program, he also helps students start up their completely free online driver-ed classes. Students can take driver’s ed classes throughout the week for over an hour through this program. Although, outside of the KYDS classroom,students are not allowed to have access to their online course unless they continue to go to KYDS and complete their online drivers ed classes. 

“I looked for driver’s ed stuff before the program and it was really expensive,” sophomore Ethan Sokol said. “It was like $500…but then I saw the KYDS flyer and said today’s my lucky day because it’s free.”

Esports is run by Coach Wilber Chavez, who has been working with KYDS for over a year. Students get to play various games on the Nintendo Switch,  games like “Super Smash Brothers,” “Mario Kart” and “Super Mario Party.”

“It’s fun. I get to meet a lot of new people. I get to play ‘Smash Bros’ (Super Smash Brothers) and show people combos that my brother taught me,” sophomore Giancarlo Valdez said. 

The dance club at KYDS is run by Coach Andrea Rodriguez, who has worked with KYDS since August. Dance coach assistant Lyric Bourgeois supervises the club and helps students with different dance techniques. The group meets every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday after school. The dance club practices various styles of dance and plans to enter competitions as it expands. Students enjoy the program and feel that the dance club has created a great community of students at DPMHS.

“What I love about the program is the sense of community the teacher brings and the growth it brings you, not just as a dancer but as a person in general,” junior Ariana Lopez-Villacorta said.