Arts & Entertainment

The New Hangout Spot for Teens

Teen Alley opens at Florissant Valley Library as the first of five new teen centers.

For teenagers who are looking for the next hottest hangout spot, they don't need to look any further than their own public library at Florissant Valley.

On Thursday morning, the unveiled its "Teen Alley," the first of five teen centers throughout the St. Louis County Library system.

"I wish when I was a teen there had been something in the library like this," said Dr. Lynn Beckwith Jr., a member of the library board of trustees who attended Thursday's event.

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Hosted in the back corner of the library, Teen Alley — named as a play off of the branch's Florissant Valley name — presents a comfortable area for teens to relax, study or read one of the several books in the teen book section. Teens also have the opportunity to play the Nintendo Wii with games such as Wii Party, Super Mario Bros. or DJ Hero.

The teen center is a result of a year's worth of fundraising and planning by the St. Louis County Library Foundation and the library itself.

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"We all know how challenging the teen years are, but we think we have hit on something," said Carla Haack, president of the foundation board, in a press release. "The library is having remarkable success with its teen centers."

Last year, in order to commemorate its tenth anniversary, the library foundation decided to fund up to five teen centers at library branches as a legacy gift to the library. Florissant Valley is the first of those five centers.

The funding comes from the Foundation's Starcatcher's gala, which raised more than $60,000 for the center.

Youth Services Specialist Jennifer Richardson said Teen Alley was the result of a lot of hard work by her teen advisory group. Her advisory group decided everything from the furniture to the color of the paint on the walls.

"They definitely wanted to make sure it was for them," Richardson said. "It's not a kid-feel, it's for teens of all ages."

She said the group wanted an "art gallery feel" for the center's space and ultimately wanted a comfortable environment for teens.

The foundation has plans to open other teen centers, including Bridgeton Trails, Grand Glaize, Samuel C. Sachs and Oak Bend.


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