New additions make way for busy year ahead at center
Over the course of the summer, the Aurora Youth Center (AYC) has been working on its new additions for visiting middle school and high school students alike to enjoy in this budding school year.
Paul Johnson, who oversees new additions to get local students involved with the Youth Center, spoke with excitement as he and his team finished wrapping up their summer programs.
“We had 14 different summer programs this year,” Johnson said. “We had a total of more than 1000 hours of participation in those events.”
The total amount of hours AYC has put into hosting various events totaled 2500, which Johnson said didn’t involve the 1000 or more hours dedicated towards summer programs.
Johnson has been working for a few years on making developments on the downtown facilities and potential activities for students who wish to find a place to hang out with friends and breakaway from the stress of schoolwork.
“We actually are in the middle of wrapping up a project,” Johnson reported Friday. “Thanks to an amazing anonymous donor, we’re going to have pizza every night so that everyone who comes in will get a hot meal.”
Interior additions to the building include a countertop, installed pizza ovens, and a storage room that is currently being built so that food can be provided every week for students.
Nachos and popcorn are among the many additional foods that students can snack on with many more options being provided thanks to the Aurora Mall, according to Johnson.
Also in the making is a second bathroom as attendance grows.
Let’s play
When students arrive for a fun time at AYC, games both old and new are waiting to be played.
Board games and video games are a popular, fun activity for students of all ages alongside games involving cards. To keep up with the energy of the students, AYC is constantly on the lookout for new games for students to try so that they may get more involved with others in attendance.
Johnson recently traveled to San Franciso, where he discovered a few card games that students can enjoy.
Fun activities aren’t just limited to indoors, as the basketball court is always open for students to shoot hoops. Among other renovations are an additional bathroom currently in the works and fencing for the basketball court as been increased to 10 feet. The later addition is to prevent stray basketballs from bouncing out into busy downtown streets.
Two new cornhole sets are also being built for the center. The cornhole boards are decorated by the center’s logo and motto, which everyone accounts to.
The Golden Rule
‘Be excellent to each other’, is a phrase that Johnson wants students to live by, both in and outside of the center.
“The number one rule is kind of all encompassing and that is to be excellent to each other,” he said. “That’s been our motto, through this whole revamp is that being kind you can make the world a better place, even if it’s just something small.”
Johnson and other members of the center strive for a safe place for students who wish to have time to relax after a long week of school.
“We have a rule sheet that all the students who attend have their parents read over and sign,” Johnson noted.