School of Management alumnus doubles down on dance, featured in New York Times

Julio Reyes ’18, MS ’19, has a lot of hobbies.

He dances. He plays chess. He loves Sudoku. He works out. He reads comic books.

“Batman and Archie — those are my go-tos. It’s an odd combination, I know,” he says with a laugh.

Reyes, an alumnus of the School of Management’s undergraduate and graduate accounting programs, is constantly exploring new interests. This, coupled with a number of difficult situations he had to overcome growing up, has propelled him to grow into the person he is today.

“I have a master’s degree. I have my own apartment. I have a good job with a steady income coming in,” he says, with pride.

The road to this point was not easy for the New York City native, who experienced most of his adolescence in foster care. And despite the successes and milestones, he is in no way ready to rest on his laurels.

“The world’s a big place. For you to be happy, you have to be willing to keep ripping off Band-Aids,” he says. “If you keep second guessing, you’ll never get anywhere.”

Growing up

“I grew up bouncing around,” Reyes says.

After moving multiple times from borough to borough, Reyes was placed into foster care at the age of 13. Beyond the emotional challenges, foster care presented a number of logistical challenges as well, as he lived an hour away from his high school.

“It was hard to hang out with friends or take part in after-school activities. My foster parents only spoke Spanish, so there were some language barriers as well,” he says. “Dealing with this while also dealing with the normal pressures that come from being in high school wasn’t easy.”

Reyes described himself as an “awkward geek” during that time. He played a lot of puzzle games, an interest he picked up from his mother, and he took part in chess tournaments and spelling bee challenges at school.

Reyes says he had a constant worry about what people thought of him, afraid of the stigmas associated with living in foster care and his interest in “geeky” activities.

“One day, something just snapped. I woke up and just didn’t want to be the person I thought everyone assumed I was. I wanted to be myself and not have to worry about hiding my hobbies from other people’s judgment,” he says.

Reyes believes it was the best decision he could’ve made.

“What surprised me most is that people were more open and accepting of me than I had anticipated,” he says. “It showed me the good colors of the world.”

With a newfound confidence, Reyes began doubling down on doing things that made him happy.

“You start living for yourself instead of trying to please everyone else,” he says. “I was very grateful I learned this early on, because it made it easier to integrate into new communities as I got older.”

Finding his groove

Originally starting at a community college, Reyes made a last-minute decision to attend Binghamton University.

“Binghamton was not always in the plan. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. I wanted to get out of the city, I needed a change and I wanted a college experience,” he says.

Reyes jumped right in, getting involved in his Newing College residential community, the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) and the Quimbamba Latina Dance Team.

“I learned how to dance when I was 13,” Reyes says. “I started paying more attention to it and joined a dance club in high school, but really took a higher interest in it during college. I was learning more dance styles and progressing with the team.”

His first performance with the group remains one of his favorite college memories.

“I was so nervous. It was my first time performing to a crowd that was bigger than a high school auditorium. After all of this practice you’re about to actually perform it,” he says. “And then there is that relief you feel right after. It doesn’t really compare to a lot of other things. I cherish that moment.”

Reyes also acclimated himself within the School of Management, deciding to major in accounting.

“I’ve always been big on math. I love math so much,” he says. “I originally thought I’d be a math major, but that eventually developed into an interest in accounting.”

Now working as an auditor at Ernst & Young (EY), Reyes believes Binghamton’s accounting program left him ahead of his peers.

“It taught me much more than just accounting. I learned a lot about business applications, methods, analytics and even some coding,” he says.

He decided to stay in Binghamton for an extra year to earn his Master of Science in Accounting, leaving Binghamton in 2019 with two degrees and the confidence to take on a career.

“I credit a lot to the School of Management. Being able to work efficiently, building the stamina to work, networking skills — SOM hands down helped me with this,” he says.

What’s next

Reyes, who moved back to the city after graduating, says his first year out of college was an adjustment.

“I was trying to replicate my Binghamton environment here, but I realized that’s where I started messing up and feeling out of place,” he says.

So he resorted to a lesson he learned back in high school.

“I started focusing on the things that made me happy. I started dancing again. I started focusing more on exercise. I started boxing and putting myself in these different communities,” he says. “I realized life is like college, just on a bigger scale. As long as you surround yourself with a community that you want to be a part of, you’ll always have someone there to talk to.”

In November 2019, Reyes passed the last exam needed for his CPA licensure.

“I was so excited that I was literally screaming and hopping in the office. It felt like the world was lifted off my shoulders,” he laughs.

While proud of this accomplishment, Reyes admits he’s not sure what the future will hold. On his desk is a Rubik’s Cube he’s been working on for some time. While most of it is solved, he still has a bit more to go.

“I still have the top to solve, but the rest is pretty good to go. I’m working on it,” he says.

Like the Rubik’s Cube, Reyes says he hasn’t gotten everything figured out just yet, but his strategy to solve life’s puzzles has remained the same.

“Don’t sacrifice your integrity for anything or anyone,” he says. “Be true to yourself, continue doing what you’re doing and eventually you’ll get to where you want to be.”