Lounging around: Marlow Heights offers new lounge and special hours for teens

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Marlow Heights Community Center has more to offer teens than ever before, and it shows. The center had an average attendance of about 70 to 80 at Xtreme Teens, and 100-130 at Safe Summer during the summer months in 2011, according to the center’s assistant director Michelle Barnes. Barnes said that the recent increase in popularity is much due to the addition of a teen lounge, which features two big screen televisions with Playstation 3 and Xbox360, comfortable couches and chairs, a stage for karaoke or spoken word, and two computers for schoolwork. The teens that benefit from this lounge, which had been only a storage closet, have themselves to thank for the addition, as they did the most of the work. Teens from the community center cleaned out the closet, painted the room, and even spoke at a panel to receive the grant necessary to complete the project. “It’s their area, like their home,” said Barnes. “This teaches them how to take care of their own space.” The lounge has been helpful in providing the necessary space and activities for the teens that visit, which at this center, are abundant. “This is the only place for them to go in Marlow Heights,” said Barnes, adding that this center is the only one with daytime teen hours during the school year, where teens can keep up with schoolwork, and with their peers.