There’s a brown portable classroom that sits on the San Lorenzo Valley High School campus between the elementary school parking lot and the gym.
From the outside, it looks like another classroom.
Inside, it’s buzzing with activity at breaks, during lunch and after school. Music pulses from the boom box near the door, and students sprawl on plush couches for a quick hangout or check the bulletin board in the back for information on jobs and resources in the community.
“It’s a place to go and be safe with a little bit of adult supervision,” said Sara Siegel, who coordinates teen activities for Mountain Community Resources.
The trailer is the home of the teen program run by MCR at the high school.
Siegal, however, is most excited about the recent launch of an after-school Art Co-op for students.
Students can drop in, free of charge, between 2:30 and 4:30 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays.
“For the most part, we get together to create stuff to sell,” Siegel said.
In the process, students have the opportunity to create artwork of all kinds and then advertise and promote their work in the real world.
The program is self-supporting on a shoestring budget. A yard sale helped launch the teen co-op, and Siegel hopes the sale of artwork at www.teenartcoop.etsy.com will help pay for supplies.
Art is not the only thing going on at the campus teen center, though.
“Stacy (Webb) and Sara helped me make a resume,” freshman Stephen Bracken said. “They’re very, very helpful when you need to get something done. They are willing to help.”
Teenagers can also take classes on babysitting, get CPR training and take advantage of summer opportunities available through the center.
Jason Koehler, a counselor with Project Success, itself a part of countywide counseling center Youth Services, also has office space in the teen trailer.
Koehler’s in the first year of a three-year grant from the Santa Cruz County Office of Education to help reduce drug and alcohol abuse among students.
Students can meet with him to cut down the length of drug- and alcohol-related suspensions or simply talk through high school issues. Also, if they have only a first offense, they can choose to meet with him instead of serving detention.
“I’m actually having students who are dropping in not because they’re mandated, but there’s something they want to discuss,” Koehler said.
He hopes his presence on campus will show up in fewer reports of drug and alcohol use in the annual Healthy Kids Survey.
“I think it’s a valuable resource to the high school, and I find that parents are really receptive,” Koehler said. “They’re really happy.”
The teen trailer is open at lunch and after school every day of the school week, and Siegel invites students to swing by for a snack and to check it out.
“We’ve made it crazy and fun for kids, and it’s a good place to do things,” Siegel said.
