Teen and family center opens doors at St. Croix Valley YMCA
By Randy Hanson
The kids have a place besides the lobby to hang out since the Valley Room opened two weeks ago. The Valley Room, according to Youth Program Director Jason Swavely, will provide a "whole other dynamic" that has been needed at the Y since it opened in 1995. It's a "positive, safe place" where teens can visit with each other and with staff members who are interested in their development, Swavely said. The room is a large, unfinished space at the back of the building furnished with picnic-style tables, couches, a TV and VCR, juke box, juice and pop machines, a snack bar, two pool tables, ping pong, air hockey and foosball tables, four video games, two dart games, a pinball machine and a bill changer. The Y has hired UW-River Falls students to staff the room during the times teens are expected to use it the most - from 3 to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays. The college students supervise the room, check out game equipment, run the snack bar and get to know the kids. Swavely hopes the games aren't all that bring teens back to the Valley Room. He'd like to see mentoring relationships develop between staff members and teens. He envisions workers talking to teens about life and encouraging them to get involved in other YMCA activities. Swavely also would like to see teens make new friends outside of their usual social circle. "This is a different arena than playing basketball or participating in drama," he said. While the Valley Room isn't always staffed, it is open the same hours as the Y. You don't have to be a teen-ager to use it, either. Swavely said preschoolers already are using it weekday mornings. The Y is thinking about serving coffee in the morning to encourage senior citizens to gather there, too. Parents and their children can meet in the Valley Room after working out to play games or have a can of juice. A Junior Night for grades 3-4 will be held in the Valley Room from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 20. For $5, the kids will be fed pizza and have access to the gym and pool, as well as the games in the Valley Room. Use of the Valley Room is free for Y members. Teen memberships to the Y are $20 per month. A day pass for a teen is $5. Swavely, 26, said the Valley Room is the sort of place he would have enjoyed when he was a kid growing up in Hudson. After graduating from Hudson High School, Swavely attended UW-River Falls, where he earned a degree in psychology and minored in sociology and coaching. He coaches the boys junior varsity basketball team at Hudson High. Exciting things are ahead in youth programming at St. Croix Valley YMCA, he said.
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