Revere is stepping back into the past to help local teenagers gain the skills they need for a bright future. The city opens its new teen center in the basement of the Revere Youth Center, 150 Beach St., on Dec. 18.
There are plenty of Revere residents who can remember taking boxing lessons, making ceramics, attending concerts, and participating in other activities in the Youth Center basement. City officials are taking advantage of the holiday school vacation week to revive nostalgic memories of the Youth Center basement and provide a fun and safe place for local teens after the school day ends.
Providing safe after-school space and productive activities to fill that space is a challenge youth advocates and municipal officials have prioritized for years. Extracurricular activities are abundant in schools. But teens also need places outside school where they can feel welcome and engaged in fun, productive activities.
In Lynn, organizations such as Girls Incorporated, Lynn YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, Gregg House, and Raw Art Works have harnessed teenagers’ talents and given kids places to go within walking distance of their homes and schools.
Some of these teen-oriented initiatives stretch back decades and rival the Revere Youth Center for their commitment to giving teens safe places to go where they can meet mentors and find engaging ways to build on the knowledge and experiences they absorb in school.
Experienced and committed youth workers know it is a mistake to brand today’s teenagers as self-absorbed slaves to technology who have tuned out from the world around them by plugging into social media.
Viewing teens through adult eyes is always an easy way to draw short-sighted conclusions about people who are trying to define their place in the world while sorting out confusion surrounding family, gender, social life and academics. Revere, Lynn and many other communities are fortunate to have an army of youth advocates and social workers who understand teenagers and who are often only separated by a few years from teenagehood.
Revere’s teen center will initially open Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 2:30 to 7 p.m. Attendance will be free and open to all middle and high school students with Revere student identification. On Thursday evenings after school, the space will host a free video game club for fifth- to ninth-grade students.
When the Lynn library carved out space in the big vaulted ceiling library on North Common Street for youth, teenagers immediately filled it with creative ideas and a love for all things technological. They also launched initiatives aimed at helping their peers and making strong social contributions aimed at improving life for people burdened with misfortune.
Teenagers viewed through adult eyes may look like people with a lot of time on their hands and an inclination to talk too loud about trivial topics. But people committed to enriching young lives know teens possess an almost-boundless energy that, with encouragement and a creative atmosphere, can be harnessed and aimed in positive directions.
Revere deserves praise for reviving the basement Youth Center and giving local teenagers a place to feel great and dream great ideas.