YES Appreciation Day (October 15) is an annual event dedicated to celebrating the YES program. Alumni take this opportunity to show love and gratitude to the program and to their host families, communities, and schools. 

In the previous years, alumni in Senegal celebrated by getting together to share their experiences on program and write beautiful postcard messages to send to their host families. This year, things were quite different. Due to the pandemic, we had to celebrate YES on social media.

Tacko Faye (YES 2017-2018, Senegal, placed by CIEE in Jamestown, CA) and El Hadj Faly Seck (YES 2019-2020, Senegal, placed by PAX in Hope, AR) celebrated by recording videos to show how the program has impacted their lives. 

In his video, Faly talks about how his experience taught him that it is okay to be different and to make mistakes, as long as one learns from them. He notes that the YES program gave him a second family.

Tacko thanks the YES program for giving her opportunities to grow and become the best version of herself. It is not a year in one’s life, but a life in a year.