YESS Institute

Welcome to YESS Institute

The YESS Institute provides secondary school students the skills to shift the negative cycle of poverty, dropout and violence into a positive cycle of leadership development, civic engagement and economic contribution through peer mentoring and emotional intelligence.

“If we want tomorrow to be a world where we want people to be caring and people to be productive, we have to invest today in our future leaders. We have to teach them what it means to be caring for the community. We have to teach them what it means to have empathy for others and to give back. But we also have to teach them how to deal with these tricky situations in our life and all the obstacles that life throws at us, so that they can be successful and get to be those caring and productive members in the communities.” - Carlo Kriekels, YESS Co-founder & CEO

Testimonials

YESS Students:

"The YESS program has helped me make more friends and make better bonds with people. The YESS program has also given me the time to get caught up on missing assignments, get ahead of my classes, and try new things. Being in the YESS program has given me the help and confidence that I needed to become who I am today. When I was a YESS mentee I had a mentor that I was able to look up to. I could trust them and ask them for help and I wasn't as scared to ask for help with things I needed like I was before. I now am a mentor and I have a mentee that looks up to me the same way.” - Destiny Alcala | YESS Mentor, 8th Grade

“One thing I’ve learned about YESS is that mentoring really helps you out. This year, my mentee is a Sophomore, and she has improved so much. We are learning together how to get work done on time, take school more seriously, figure out her goals and also my goals.” - YESS Student Mentor from North High Schools 

“Being in YESS Mentoring my 4 years of high school has taught me many different things: social emotional learning, post-secondary acceptance, life outside of school, and more. Being in the YESS class has made me warm up and get out of my comfort zone by having class/group activities and discussions. Every year I've made sure to ask for the YESS Mentoring class because I got a lot of support in class from my teachers and mentors when I was in 9th-11th grade. I've always pushed myself in class and in school so I could learn how to be a great mentor for YESS when I got to being a senior. I want every other high schooler to get the same experience as I did and be as successful as every other YESS mentor. I expect for the rest of the high school students to build great relationships with their mentors and teachers as well so that they can get motivated and see that this class could do a lot more for them than just giving them high school credits. Overall, YESS mentoring has motivated me to be in school and continue to push myself to work harder and be a better person not only for myself but for people around me as well.” - Natalie Perez | YESS Mentor, North High School

YESS Alumna:

"YESS had a lot of influence on me wanting to become a college student. YESS helped me inspire other students especially the mentees know who had difficulties with their educational goals and planning for after high school. I wanted to show them we can do it you know just having a program that guides you not only do high school but to your path to college. YESS gives you the foundation that you need to lean on.” - Anna Quezada-Villa | Former YESS Mentor, current college student at University of Denver

“The program being here at West Leadership Academy is probably one of the best things that has happened to the school to be completely honest with you. The curriculum itself provides social-emotional learning skills and it provides a classroom where we can have these discussions on race, drugs, alcohol, abuse – all relevant issues that we still face today in any classroom.” - Carlos Villagrana-Juarez; YESS Program Manager at West Leadership Academy; Former YESS Student;   

The ROI of YESS Programs

Research shows that investing in youth development has a positive impact on economic growth and social well-being. Young people who receive support and training are more likely to succeed in the workforce, contribute to their communities, and have a positive impact on society as a whole. Supporting YESS Institute can help ensure that more young people have access to these opportunities, thus benefiting the company and the community.