LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
The Bethel Manor Child Development Center recently underwent a transformation and celebrated its grand opening as the new Bethel Manor Teen Center June 28.
The CDC will be a temporary teen center until school starts in the fall, which will be open to all teens with Department of Defense identification cards.
During the summer, business for the Bethel Manor CDC is slow, so childcare moves to the main CDC here. The building is vacant for the summer, which gave the staff at the Shellbank Youth Center the idea of making it into a teen center.
"We wanted to create a place where teenagers can go to be themselves and relax," said Ms. Billie Hannible, Langley youth program coordinator.
Not only is it important that teens have a safe place to hang out, but it's also important that the location is easy to get to.
"Transportation is often an issue for teens," said Mr. Tyrone Griffin, Langley's teen coordinator. "That's what makes this place ideal; they can walk to it."
After the youth program's staff came up with the idea of turning the CDC into a teen center, the idea was sent up to Mr. Roland Taylor, 1st Force Support Squadron Family Airman and Readiness flight chief, who immediately approved it.
"It's an excellent opportunity for the teens to say 'we have a summer place to hang out on our own," Mr. Taylor said. "It's a place for them to socialize and continue to learn while on summer break."
Upon approval, the staff immediately began renovating the CDC. The CDC's old furniture was put into storage and replaced with beanbag chairs, couches and a wide-screen television.
"We wanted the atmosphere to be one that teens would feel comfortable in," Ms. Hannible said.
There's also a pool table, ping pong table, foosball and air hockey table in the game room. Teens can do arts and crafts, play the latest video games, including Wii, and also play basketball, volleyball and tennis outside.
"My favorite part of the teen center is the arts and crafts, said Nicole Fisher. "I also like to play video games and football."
Along with a game room, lounge room and "war room," or workshop room, where the camps take place, there's also a computer teens can use to access the Internet and a full-service kitchen.
The ceiling tiles in each room are decorated and painted by teens.
"By having the teens paint the tiles, they get to add their own signature to the place and give it their own personal flair," Mr. Griffin said.
Outside the center, the staff put up plywood along the fence to create what Mr. Griffin calls the "street art stop," where teens can paint and be creative.
Youth need to be members to use the teen center. The price of membership is $12 and is good until December 31. Teens can obtain memberships at the Shellbank Youth Center.
Once teens become members, all teen camps are free. Some of the camps the teen center offers include, College Prep, Exploring Entrepreneurship, Money Management and Stepping.
"These programs will help introduce life skills and provide leadership development opportunities to teens," Mr. Griffin said. "We really want them to get involved and take advantage of what these programs can give them."
The center recently finished a camp on team building, where teens learned about teamwork and trust. On the last day, the teens went on a trip to Bush Gardens.
"Whatever teens want, we try to bring to them," Ms. Hannible said. "We want to make the center as teen friendly as possible."
After the summer, the CDC will move back to Bethel Manor and the teen center will move into a room at the Shellbank Youth Center.
"My hope is that the teens love the center so much that it will be kept permanently open," Mr. Griffin said.
The center's hours are from 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 4 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. For more information, call the teen center at 225-2609.