Whitehall YMCA offers first-of-kind middle school program in Columbus
Unable to agree on a discussion topic for their presentation, the four boys who had gathered in the teen room of the Whitehall Community Park YMCA instead put their fate in the hands of a spinning wheel.
Would the wheel’s arrow land on Roblox, a popular online platform that hosts user-created games? Or perhaps “steak,” “dogs,” or even “bad words” (and why you shouldn’t say them, of course).
The instructors in the skill-based program at the YMCA at 402 N. Hamilton Road gave the eight young boys and girls who arrived on a recent Monday afternoon ample leeway in choosing their subjects. More important than the topic itself, the instructors said, was that they flex their intellectual muscles and reflect on the world around them.
Part of “Mindful Monday,” the exercise is just one of the many regular activities the youngsters partake in each week. The Middle School After-School Program and all that it offers — including opportunities for students to experiment with technology, cook tasty dishes, play musical instruments and experience the outdoors — is the first of its kind at YMCA facilities in Greater Columbus, program leaders say.
“We’re trying to give them cool tools for when they go to high school,” said Zoey Brooks, the after-school program leader. “We want to promote fun, but we want them to learn, too.”
The program was intended to begin in 2019 when the 25,600-square-foot facility opened at the site of a former, underused Whitehall recreation center thanks to a $6.6 million investment from the city for renovations and construction, said Shannon Sorrell, Whitehall Parks and Recreation Department director. However, the pandemic derailed those plans until the beginning of the 2021 academic year.
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In the first semester, 38 students signed up for the $10-per-semester program, most of them from Whitehall schools, although the program is open to any Greater Columbus student regardless of school district, Brooks said. The number of students enrolled this semester fell to 23, but program leaders are confident that enrollment will flourish as word spreads and the program’s offerings continue to grow.
As the after-school program takes off, the city plans to support it and other YMCA operations with $150,000 a year in order to defray the costs for students and their families, Sorrell said.
“The city funds it because it’s a really big priority for us,” Sorrell said. “There was this recurring message from our community — that our kids needed something to do.”
Once a school bus drops students off each day around 3 p.m., the bulk of the activity takes place in the two teen rooms located in the northeast corner of the building. This is where middle schoolers can play Roblox and Minecraft; partake in arts and crafts activities; learn to play guitar, drums and other instruments; and put their video production skills to the test with a green screen.
“They’re really able to just hang out as a group and have their own area,” Sorrell said.
Many of the offerings in the room were donated by YMCA staff, Brooks said.
A drum kit and piano reside in one of the rooms, and Music Go Round donated 10 guitars that hang on the back wall, Brooks said. The room also houses gizmos such as Lego Mindstorms robot building kits.
YMCA of Central Ohio recently received a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) grant from Battelle for an undisclosed amount of money that will partially benefit the Whitehall afterschool program, Brooks said. The plan is for one of the teen rooms to be fully converted into a tech center replete with 3D printing capabilities and Oculus virtual reality devices.
Throughout the course of each week, students ultimately partake in programming throughout the entire facility. Inside the YMCA is a small teaching kitchen and a 4,000-square-foot, artificial-turf field designed for youth soccer. And just outside is a large park where Whitehall’s parks department hosts educational activities.
Brooks said there are plans for the YMCA to host field trips to Whitehall fixtures such as product development company Priority Designs and the Ohio Media School.
Some of the students said the program has not only taught them valuable skills but fostered strong friendships with their classmates.
“I’m really excited to go here (every day) because it’s the only time I get to see all my friends outside of school,” said Julia Turley, 12, who is in sixth grade at Rosemore Middle School in Whitehall.
As the students prepared presentations that recent Monday, pressure mounted for the four boys to pick a topic. Ultimately, they decided not to go with the will of the spinning wheel — whose hands came to rest on “dogs” — and opted instead to present about soccer after several more minutes of deliberation.
That delighted Ulisses Martinez, 12, a sixth-grade student at Rosemore, who espoused a passion for both watching and playing the sport.
When it came time to present, the once demure Martinez came into his element, excitedly lecturing about the rules, health benefits and questionable officiating prevalent in soccer.
“Instead of being on your phone and playing soccer,” Martinez said, “you can actually live it.”
This story is part of the Dispatch’s Mobile Newsroom initiative. Visit our reporters at the Columbus Metropolitan Library’s Whitehall branch library and read their work at dispatch.com/mobilenewsroom, where you also can sign up for The Mobile Newsroom newsletter.
Eric Lagatta is a reporter at the Columbus Dispatch covering public safety, breaking news and social justice issues. Reach him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @EricLagatta.
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