{"id":3783,"date":"2017-05-31T16:08:04","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T20:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/?p=3783"},"modified":"2017-12-20T11:56:30","modified_gmt":"2017-12-20T16:56:30","slug":"alumnus-of-the-year-anxo-perez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/2017\/05\/31\/alumnus-of-the-year-anxo-perez\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumnus of the Year: Anxo P\u00e9rez"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3786\" src=\"\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/05\/P\u00e9rez.jpg\" alt=\"Anxo P\u00e9rez '97\" width=\"267\" height=\"403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/05\/P\u00e9rez.jpg 513w, https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2017\/05\/P\u00e9rez-300x453.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 267px) 100vw, 267px\" \/>In his native Spain and beyond, <strong>Anxo P\u00e9rez &#8217;97<\/strong> has become an inspirational speaker and author. His message: \u201cDon\u2019t admire success, admire effort.\u201d P\u00e9rez founded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.8belts.com\/\">8Belts.com<\/a>, an internet-based language-learning program centered upon oral repetition and conversation with native speakers, rather than grammar and theory. The company employs more than 100 people in nine countries, with customers in 50 countries. He also authored <em>Los 88 pelda\u00f1os del \u00e9xito<\/em> (<em>The 88 Steps of Success<\/em>), based on tenets to improve the world through personal growth. The 2014 title and the follow-up <em>La inteligencia del \u00e9xito<\/em> (<em>The Intelligence of Success<\/em>) have rung up $3 million in sales. <em>Los 88 pelda\u00f1os<\/em> was the No. 1 nonfiction bestseller of <em>ABC<\/em>, one of Spain\u2019s three largest dailies, in July 2014, and ranked high in iTunes sales through the end of that year.<\/p>\n<p>A popular speaker who is fluent in nine languages, P\u00e9rez has given some 400 keynote addresses on five continents. In May 2016, P\u00e9rez received an alumni award and addressed the graduating class of Bellefontaine (Ohio) High School, where he was an exchange student in 1993. He likened the world\u2019s view of success to a swan. Observers focus on the swan\u2019s elegant plumage and graceful profile and overlook what\u2019s unseen\u2014the legs paddling energetically below the surface.<\/p>\n<p>P\u00e9rez played on EMU\u2019s varsity soccer team for three years. One of his best memories was scoring three goals in the 1995 homecoming game. Not only was his high school coach <strong>Ken Shank &#8217;83<\/strong> there from Ohio, but the third goal was also a bicycle kick, \u201cthe dream goal of every soccer player.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Although gifted linguistically and musically, P\u00e9rez had difficulty choosing a profession. He earned a degree in liberal arts with minors in music and English as a second language. While at EMU, he was music minister at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church and an interpreter for the Harrisonburg Police Department, which led to a position teaching legal interpretation at James Madison University after graduation. P\u00e9rez earned a master\u2019s in international relations at the Brussels campus of the University of Kent. His charitable interests include occupational training to high-school dropouts; arts engagement for orphans and the developmentally disabled; and cancer research and prevention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his native Spain and beyond, Anxo P\u00e9rez &#8217;97 has become an inspirational speaker and author. His message: \u201cDon\u2019t admire success, admire effort.\u201d P\u00e9rez founded 8Belts.com, an internet-based language-learning program centered upon oral repetition and conversation with native speakers, rather than grammar and theory. The company employs more than 100 people in nine countries, with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":3786,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,918],"tags":[938,714,937],"class_list":["post-3783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","category-springsummer-2017","tag-alum-of-the-year","tag-alumni","tag-anxo-perez","issues-current-issue","issues-spring-summer-2017"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/196"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3783"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3860,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3783\/revisions\/3860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/crossroads\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}