JayCee Cruz ‘14: He Found His Calling in the Hallways of SHS
SALEM (Oct. 10, 2024) – People usually find their calling in life as a young adult. Some a little later in life.
Juan ‘JayCee’ Cruz, a 2014 graduate of Salem High School, found his when he was barely a teenager in the hallways of SHS.
“When I was a freshman, we shot our first video in the hallways on the first floor,” Mr. Cruz recalled.
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, Salem Public Schools is reconnecting with prominent alumni making significant differences in their communities.
Mr. Cruz is an educator around the clock. By day, he is an instructional paraprofessional at SHS working closely with multilingual learners for whom English is a second language, often translating and guiding them over hurdles they may face.
After the bell, he is the founder and instructor of FlyKidz Dance Academy in Salem.
The two careers are similar: By day Mr. Cruz bridges language gaps, which is often difficult. His afternoons and evenings are less stressful: Dance is a universal language.
“Dancing is the fun thing we do to dive deep into character development,” he said. “You develop perseverance. To get up in front of people, you have to have confidence. It’s such a character developer. It makes you look beyond the physical.”
Mr. Cruz was one of four classmates – along with Juan Martinez, Jherderson Rosario and Abel Nunez – who started FlyKidz Dance Club as freshmen in 2010. “They are part of the story of FlyKidz,” he noted. “It was kind of a street dance group. We ran ourselves. We didn’t have anyone overseeing us.”
Each year, their numbers grew. They performed at various events and festivals, but the signature event was the SHS Talent Night. “The Talent Show became a big deal,” Mr. Cruz said. “In my four years here it felt like we reached celebrity status.”
Mr. Cruz is quick to point out that each of the founding members – one a Salem Police officer, a Massachusetts state trooper, and a corrections officer – continue to serve the community, like he does.
Following graduation, Mr. Cruz and his classmates went separate ways. He attended North Shore Community College to study Child Growth and Development, but the urge to dance kept gnawing at him.
In 2016, Mr. Cruz left NSCC to pursue dance. While he made a go at a professional career under Beverly-based choreographer James Runner, he doubled as a dance instructor at the Salem YMCA. Not long after, he requested permission from the YMCA, successfully, to brand his program FlyKidz.
Inevitably, success followed: FlyKidz placed first at the Leap National Dance Competition and third at Prelude New England in 2018, then runner-up at Prelude 2019. Among many highlights, they performed at halftime of Dominican Appreciation Night at a Boston Celtics game in front of a packed TD Garden and at the New York Mets Dominican Appreciation Day celebration at Shea Stadium alongside former shortstop Jose Reyes.
With success came the idea to open a studio alongside friend and business partner Luis Davila (SHS ‘15) which came to fruition, sort of, in March of 2020. What was envisioned to be a bustling studio with students and parents coming and going after school turned into online lessons and classes due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
While Mr. Cruz and Mr. Davila weren’t afforded a grandiose opening, FlyKidz grew steadily and has a healthy contingent of students (and a roster of instructors who were once students).
It continues to build post pandemic and so does its founder: Mr. Cruz is back at NSCC with the goal of becoming an ESL teacher, and fiercely devoted to the school that nurtured him in his younger years. FlyKidz has also returned as a club at SHS.
In a recent conversation, Mr. Cruz gushes about the community he calls home. It sparks a young student to take exception and remind him of his Dominican Republic roots.
“I moved here from the Dominican Republic when I was 10, but this is my home,” he explains to her. “This place is everything to me. I want to continue to serve my community in every way possible. This is why I do what I do.”
About Salem Public Schools
Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem is a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Our leaders and our teachers are all passionate about education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement with equity and social-emotional needs as the lens we view all of our work through. We respect and value the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of our students and their families, and have a strong commitment to the Salem community. Salem Public Schools staff serve all of our students, regardless of ability or language. Salem Public Schools enrolls approximately 4,000 students across its eleven schools.
