By: Chris Munzing
Hennessy announced Tuesday that the city is working towards the creation of a teen center in the West End or the center of town to complement the facility at East School that debuted last summer. Hennessy said that the city would use community development funds to run the center.
The East School facility featured video games, computers, sports and various classes to keep the kids entertained. Lester called last summer a huge success.
"We're committed to doing one this summer," Hennessy said. "The only question for the city at this point is where we're going to do it."
Hennessy said the old Jewish War Veterans building the city owns is in need of major repairs and isn't an option, but that the city is looking at alternative sites, including the Recreation Center and West School.
Lester said that the school district is making its facilities available to the city.
"What we envision is giving kids an option," Hennessy said. "We'd like to see kids playing basketball, kids playing flag football. If we have it at the Rec Center, [we can have] kids in the ice rink, or in the pool or the weight room. We want these kids to have something productive to do."
Hennessy said that the benefits of an additional teen center would be felt throughout the city. By getting teens off the streets and the beach, neighborhoods would be quieter, and the police might get fewer calls about rowdy teens, he said.
Hennessy said that one of the main challenges is giving the older teenagers an incentive to go. "The older kids, there's a stigma attached," Hennessy said. "Why go to a teen center when you can go hang out on the beach? We had no problem last summer with bringing in the middle school kids. But we need to make it attractive to the older ones."
"The key is word of mouth," Councilman Denis Kelly said. "And holding athletic events is a good way to start. It's holding basketball tournaments, softball tournaments. Make it fun and get the word out. We should all learn from Roy Lester and the East School."
The center at East School will be back again this summer under the direction of Project Challenge. Lester said that there will be many new classes available to the kids, including cooking, yoga, kickboxing, art, photography and karate. Lester added that the playgrounds at East School will be open to give the high school kids a place to play sports. The school will be open five days a week. It is closed Sunday and Monday nights.
"Last year was a learning process," Lester said. "We have a big advantage coming in this year. It's going to be great for the kids." Lester added that he is willing to offer the city any assistance they need.
"We have the resources to put this thing together," Kelly said. "We just have to make it happen. There is no reason this can't be done."
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