New Boys and Girls Club Director John Perez John Perez, who is the new director for the local Boys and Girls Club, has plenty of previous experience that should help him run the organization like a well-oiled machine.

“Having done some work with Communities In Schools, I noticed this area had many more needs than I originally thought,” Perez said. “So my whole thought process was to reach out to the students in this area in a bigger way than with just the six and seven year olds that I was servicing while with Communities In Schools.”

CIS is an organization based in Corpus Christi which has affiliates in school districts such as Kingsville, Calallen, Corpus Christi, Flour Bluff, West Oso, Gregory Portland, Sinton, Driscoll, Banquete and Brooks County. Before joining the Boys and Girls Club, Perez worked for two years as a program coordinator at CIS’s satellite site at A.D. Harvey Elementary of the Kingsville Independent School District.

Perez said he has a pretty good idea on some of the obstacles currently hindering many older kids.

“I notice the dropout rate in this area, which I will not say is extremely high, is definitely competitive with some of the nearby bigger cities,” Perez said. “I also saw that there are a lot of students still in school who are not successful with the TAKS test. It is evident that some tutoring, classes and some TAKS testing help is definitely needed.”

Perez is very familiar in helping teenagers with serious issues.

“I was the teen director for the Boys and Girls Club in Edinburg where I helped with substance abuse counseling and subcontract work for a long time,” Perez said. “So my previous experience comes in working with adolescents and teens in Edinburg where we were able to implement new programs and curriculums to help enforce all the things these kids needed to be productive.”

Organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club are imperative in guiding adolescents.

“I think this organization is a vital part in our main objective, which is to steer these students from the negative to the positive,” Perez said. “We want to make this a place where kids can come and see positive things and influences.”

Barely a week into his new job - he started July 12 - and Perez was already busy penciling ideas.

“Right now what we are looking at is strengthening our teen program and also possibly making some additions and/or renovations to this building so we can have a teen room,” Perez said. “We also have a teen dance which is going to take place on July 23. There are a lot of teens out there who are ready to find something positive to do and I want to provide that.”