Teens Support Next Generation at Winterfest

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By Chéye Roberson
Sentinel Correspondent

Arch-StreetTeenagers from Arch Street, The Greenwich Teen Center, “felt like doing some things that are a little different than usual,” and so they introduced a new annual winter festival to celebrate their 25th anniversary.

The teen center, which began in 1981, is a safe place for teens to socialize and hold fun activities. On Saturday, its members used all three floors of the center to entertain the younger age group and also contribute to charity.

“Well, the bouncy house, which is probably the biggest hit, and then we’ve got the blue note singers from Brunswick school that are actually playing as people enter the building,” said Kyle Silver, executive director of Arch Street. “Flight simulation is going on behind me, which has been a big hit today.”

That was just the first floor.

“On the second floor, Sound Waters is here with their touch tank and their sea creatures for the students to actually see first-hand,” Silver said. “We have face painting and balloons artists and Domino’s, with their pizza service in here. And then we have a karate demonstration as well from a local karate institution in town. There’s a lot going on in there today. If you’re kindergarten through 5th grade, it’s the place to be.”

Participants were asked to bring winter coats to donate to Neighbor to Neighbor.

The demographic for the teen center is typically 7th grade through 12th. However, the Arch Street team wanted to find a way to attract soon-to-be teens as well.

“They were looking at targeting kindergarten through 5th grade for this event,” Silver said. “So far, we’ve had about 300 students through. It’s far surpassed what we expected.”

The teen center has many activities planned.

“There’s something here every weekend for teenagers every Friday and Saturday,” Silver said. “And then during the week as well, something parents may not know is that we have free programs for teens, which are a TRX training program, a hip-hop class that is for teens as well, and then a yoga class. These are all free classes for students during the week on a Monday through Friday basis.”

The activities of the center are planned for teens by teens with an all-teen board.

“We have a student board of directors, and all schools in town are represented on that board—and they’re all high school students. Their joy is to basically plan and implement and design our activities,” said Silver.

“It’s the 25th anniversary of Arch Street this year,” said Diego Jasson, a member of the Arch Street board. “One thing that I’ve always had present in my mind is Arch Street’s image in the community. A lot of people mistakenly see it as a harbor for drinking and all these terrible things that in reality have nothing to do with Arch Street. Arch Street provides a safe, healthy place for teenagers to go where they have the infrastructure to enjoy themselves.

“We had one of the founders come and talk about launching a capital campaign for the 25th anniversary and I said, ‘Look, guys, I think if we did a winter-themed holiday event where we gave coats to Neighbor to Neighbor, we could have a very tangible impact on the community, and we could show a lot of people that Arch Street is truly a facilitator in the community for good.’”

The senior members of Brunswick School’s Blue Notes, a jazz and pop instrumental group, played for people as they entered.

“We usually have a large 15-piece ensemble, and this is like our small group that comes and plays gigs like this,” said Alex Gibbons, president of the teen board at Arch Street and of the Blue Notes.

Gibbons was involved in the initial planning of the winter festival and offered to play.

“We knew it was going to be holiday themed, and we usually play jazz standards that are not holiday themed. So instead of ‘Oh Holy Night’ we try to play something with a little more pop spin,” said Gibbons.

Gibbons plays the piano. The other players from the Blue Notes were singer Markus Lake; McKinley Frantz on keyboard bass; Conrad Graf; and Will Jeffery on drums.

Not all the winterfest activities were indoors. Outside the building, Noah Sonnenberg flew a remote controlled drone that took pictures of the festivities below.

“I’ve been flying for about two years and I do it mainly for a photography course that I take at my school,” said Sonnenberg, an Arch Street board member. The drone Sonnenberg flew was the DJI Inspire 1, with the Zenmuse camera.

“We had probably over 60 kids break boards today and we gave away over $1,500 to give kids lessons to help the event out today,” said Mike Meyer, the president of SDSS Martial Arts.

A magic show was performed by Kid Ace, a celebrated illusionist and musician. He usually performs for the college and university crowd, but lent his talents to the Winterfest. The audience of kids and parents enjoyed his blend of comedy and illusion.

“I do infuse comedy in my show—and they love it because it’s not your average magic show,” he said, who makes a point of appealing to teens. “They come and they see someone that dresses like them and relates to the same music and pop culture. So, it’s a fun show. I try to keep it up to date.”

“It’s such a wonderful organization, and to bring the community together for a really nice holiday celebration was wonderful,” said Katie Zapata, who came with her daughters. “We had a very nice time.”

“I think that a lot of the teens that we saw volunteering here were very mature and respectful, and were excited to be a part of the organization,” she added. “So it was really nice to see that, and to see such great role models for our kids.”

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