It was always hard for teens to find a place to hang out after school with their friends, before the school year started. But now with Teen Central, or more commonly known as the BG Teen Center, there are many more students participating in the new program.
The idea for the teen center came from Linda Dobb, executive vice president of BGSU wanting a place for teens to go and occupy their afternoons after school days.
“It started with an idea with our teens in town wanting to go somewhere,” Dobb said. “Everything just fell into place when we got some grants and a couple of the young people who lived in Bowling Green got behind the idea.”
Dobb did not realize the immediate success the teen center would have.
Only open since September, the teen center has expanded from an initial seven members to now 90.
More members occupying the teen center results in less space available.
“One of the current obstacles is dealing with the space here,” said Niki Messmore, director of the teen center. “Some days with a lot of teens, it does impede the best we can be because it limits what we can do.”
Bowling Green Junior High School student Jessica Partlow enjoys the afterschool program, mentioning how she likes to be with her friends, but notices it can get loud with the high amount of people in the room.
Partlow, 14, said she would really like the teen center to implement sections where people can lay down and get away from all the noise.
But even with these requests, sometimes it’s just not possible to meet every demand.
Although space is something everyone would like more of, it’s just not possible at the moment.
Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Director Michelle Grigore, along with the city, provided the building the teen center occupies in Veterans Park. Even though it’s a cheaper alternative to a building in the downtown area, the space is not ideal.
“We don’t have another room,” said Michelle Grigore. “If they feel it’s too small, they may have to look for another site or location.”
But there are possible solutions on the way: nice weather.
With the nicer weather coming in April, students can leave the building and occupy the park area where there are several fields and courts to play on. This will take some of the traffic away from inside the building.
“Space is always an issue because everyone wants more space,” Dobb said. “I just think one of the compromises of being in the city park, which the teens really like, is that we have to use whatever space we have available there.”
With the growing popularity of the teen center, it might be smart to start brainstorming on ideas of how to counter for more students participating, Dobb said.
Messmore expects the attendance to increase next year and said time will tell if it is a necessity to increase the size of the teen center.
But the problems of space do not counter the good the teen center is doing for the community, Grigore said.
“It’s a great place for kids to go. There are some great volunteer from the University to make friends with and [they’re] in a nice, safe environment,” she said.
“I think obviously [teens would] like to have more space, but I don’t think its too detrimental,” Dobb said. “It’s a good space. The Park and Recreation Center have been very nice to us. It’s got a lot of plusses to it.”
