Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 24, 1994 TAG: 9409260031
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
For all the teen-agers out there complaining that there's nothing to do in this boring place, Roanoke County's new teen center on Brambleton Avenue offers an alternative.
The question is: Will it pass the teen test?
So far, it seems to have caught on with the middle-school crowd. High-schoolers are going to be the challenge.
Charlotte Horan, a Hidden Valley Junior High School ninth-grader, came with two friends just to check it out one day this week. They said they'd be back.
"I thought it'd be boring," Charlotte said. "I didn't think it would have all this stuff."
Susan Doyle, another ninth-grader, gave the place her seal of approval: "It's cool."
Normally, they'd just be hanging out at home watching TV after school, so they're happy to have another option.
"I really like it here," said Dana Dennis, 14, while playing pool. "You can get away from your parents for a while."
The basement of the former county Administration Building - which used to house such offices as engineering and economic development - never saw so much fun.
The county is striving for a "club" atmosphere for seventh- through 12th-graders. Free and coin-operated games - pool, pingpong, video games and air hockey - are offered in the game room; a juke box, vending machines and a microwave are in the food court; and a wide-screen TV and four couches are in the lounge.
There are meeting rooms and a lot of space for expansion. A steering committee of teens throughout the county helped pick out the furnishings, decor, music and food. The center soon will be handicapped-accessible with the installation of an elevator.
There's also a club room with eight computers, reference material and software that provides foreign language tutorials and resume-writing help. The school system is being lobbied for a set of textbooks so students don't have to lug in their own.
Tim Mullins, a Stonewall Jackson Middle School seventh-grader, already is a regular, though the place has been open only 10 days. He has settled into a routine: homework on the center's computers, a drink in the food court and then on to play free games until his mother picks him up at 5:30.
"I try to come every day," he said Thursday, working on social studies questions on the word-processing program. "It's better than sitting around at home doing homework."
He like the computers for doing his work because "I type faster than I write."
The grand opening will be tonight, with the public invited to a ribbon-cutting at 7:30. Starting at 8, all games are free for the evening. Radio station K92 will provide the music. Special events are planned, like night-vision goggle demonstrations and a planetarium show.
The white walls are covered with music and movie posters, and the staff plans to let the kids decide how to finish decorating the place. A graffiti wall is one option, and a contest to come up with a name and logo is planned.
"We've finished what we need to do," said Pete Haislip, director of parks and recreation for the county. "We need to turn it over to the kids to do what they want to do."
Kim Dodd stopped by this week for a visit with her sister and a friend.
"It's our first day, and we already love it," the 12-year-old said.
"I thought it would be a whole bunch of teachers and have a lot of rules," Sabrina Grubb said.
The center sprang from a 1990 survey of Roanoke County teens that found the 5,000 respondents wanted a teen center. The Department of Parks and Recreation began working on one, the first public teen center in the Roanoke Valley.
Such places run a major risk of failure if they're deemed uncool, so Roanoke County brought in kids early on to help. The kids helped decide what the rules should be and axed some of the adults' ideas, like holding dances.
"From day one, we decided in order for it to be cool, teens had to have ownership in it," said Debbie Pitts, assistant director of recreation for the county. "It's not cool if I do it for them."
The center is part of the county's new Brambleton Center, which also houses the Senior Center, classes run by the recreation department, and the Cooperative Extension Service. The Board of Supervisors' former meeting room has been turned into a community room.
"The seniors were the first ones who said they wanted [the Brambleton Center] to be intergenerational," Pitts said.
The cost of remodeling the basement for the teen center was included in the $216,000 building renovation budget. The center spent $10,000 on equipment and more was donated by businesses. County supervisors committed another $30,000 in this year's budget.
A manager should be on board by mid-October, Haislip said. But he said the manager will have a lot of input from students on programming, special events and operations.
"They need to add their personal touch down here," he said.
by CNB