Boys and Girls Clubs of Weld County Teen Center celebrates 1st anniversary ...Saudi Arabia

When the Boys and Girls Clubs of Weld County Teen Center opened in the former Warnoco roller skating rink building last year, it inherited a storied past.

Somewhere in that past, staff members seem to have discovered, was a playful spirit with a penchant for basketball.

Emily Stanfill, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Weld County chief operating officer, said the center’s staff noticed basketballs rolling around unprovoked last fall. They rolled everywhere, even into the office of the center’s director, Austina Burns.

The staff concluded a ghost was behind the rolling basketballs. A ghost they named Lincoln.

“He’s great,” Stanfill said. “He just wants to play basketball all the time.”

Since the center opened last May, teenagers from across the area have enjoyed basketball on the same court — along with many more activities at the center. Last summer, 200 teens registered at the center, Stanfill said, with 120 using it daily.

That sizable turnout quickly led staff to scale back and allow 75 teens to use it daily. They expect to reach similar registration numbers this summer.

And as the center celebrates its first anniversary, Stanfill said the staff is more than ready to handle the turnout.

“It’s been really awesome to embrace this space,” she said. “To just see it grow so quickly and so exponentially was fulfilling for all of us to know that this was the right decision.”

Before the new teen center opened, teens shared a space with younger users at the Pawl Clubhouse, 2400 1st Ave., Greeley. That location was within walking distance for most users from Bella Romero Academy, which includes elementary and middle schools.

With that in mind, administrators expected teens would walk to get to the center, drive there themselves or have access to transportation. That was not the case.

Located at 1407 2nd St., the center is nearest to Jefferson High School and Billie Martinez Elementary School. Both schools are less than a 10-minute walk away from the center. During this past school year, transportation became taxing as three vans for the center picked up students after school at 14 Greeley-Evans District 6 schools and a few charter schools.

Stanfill contacted Greeley-Evans Transit to see if their services could be beneficial, but to no avail. She said they’re working to partner with District 6 to alleviate their transportation needs for the upcoming school year. Ideally, that would mean District 6 picking up teens after school and dropping them off at the center.

Another challenge staff had to overcome in Year 1 was adapting the itinerary for teens. Initially, events were structured in a way that was almost reminiscent of being in school. The staff eventually got the impression the itinerary wasn’t working for the teens.

To better serve the center’s users, the staff adopted a focus on life and career readiness.

“We took a step back and really started thinking about this space,” Stanfill said. “How can we do more of that? What is it that we can do to give them more ownership of this space?”

That shift led to the creation of “career cluster months.” Each month during the school year, the center focuses on a theme. The staff partnered with local businesses and organizations to teach and show the teens about financial literacy and other skills.

“That is my favorite part of our story so far,” said Dave Dixon, Boys and Girls Clubs of Weld County chief executive officer.

Having the teens speak up about how they want the center to benefit them has been great to witness, Dixon said. Using feedback has helped the staff adapt to interest in other activities and even change rooms in the building.

Stanfill said more teens this year participated in the Boys and Girls Clubs Youth of the Year competition, where teens write essays and complete other tasks to be selected as an ambassador for the teen center at the state, regional and national levels. She also pointed to the Boys and Clubs Keystone Club that saw an uptick in usage.

The Keystone Club is a youth leadership program focused on community service, academic success and career preparation. Stanfill said the club was dormant for a few years before staff brought it back last year.

As the teens felt confident their voices and opinions were being heard, the center added a podcast studio and a cafe. The podcast room was initially just another meeting room, but it is now stocked with top-notch microphones and sound equipment. It’s not operational yet, but Stanfill said it will be soon, with backing from a local sponsor.

Thanks to the financial literacy career cluster month and local banks, teens learned the financial side of how to operate the cafe. Dixon said Burns brought in a local coffee shop to show the teens how to properly fix drinks, too.

Dixon said Weld County is rich with organizations that help teens with school and workforce areas, so at the teen center, the staff is working on an audit for all the teen programming offered in the county. They’ll use this information to see if there are gaps that the teen center could fill, or connect with other organizations to better serve teens.

“We’re trying to be as additive as we can to what’s already being offered in the community,” Dixon said. “That’s something we’re trying to focus on.”

A slew of connections have been made between the center and the community to help the teens succeed, with more to come. However,  the teen center staff has established a connection to help students while in school, too.

Since last fall, Jefferson High School students have used the center’s gym for their physical education classes.

Jefferson principal Larry Green said that connection started during the architectural phase of the center, and it’s been beneficial for both sides. The students “absolutely love it,” Green said.

And for Green, having the center inside the former Warnoco building evokes a nostalgic charm. He said parents have told him stories about their glory days at the rink, and they’re happy it wasn’t demolished.

It’s now bringing joy and good times to a new generation of teens.

In 2004, the rink was permanently closed. It remained vacant until the teen center opened.

“It’s just a beautiful, beautiful place to hang out,” Green said.

The beautiful hangout is set to grow in multiple ways moving forward when it enters Phase 2 in the coming months. The phase includes partnering with more local businesses and organizations that bolster the experience for the teens as well as converting the grassy area in the back of the center to playing fields.

The field project doesn’t have a set date, but Stanfill and Dixon are optimistic the project should get started sooner rather than later.

Stanfill, Dixon and Green commended the teens for taking pride in the building and respecting everything in it. Stanfill said teens from all walks of life, backgrounds and economic situations use the center, which can lead to some trying times. She said they’ve had a brush with gang affiliation, too, but the teens quickly dealt with it.

The staff can’t control what the teens do during the hours away from the center, she said. But when they enter the doors, their peers have established that the teen center is a safe community for everyone, and it’s going to remain that way.

“It’s theirs. They’re taking care of their building. The kids take it upon themselves to make this a safe place,” Stanfill said.

Registration is ongoing. The summer fee is $160. To register or learn more about the teen center, go to bgcweld.org/teencenter.

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