Teen center at Boys and Girls Club campus in Carson City celebrates opening with ceremony

The William N. Pennington Teen Center at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Nevada campus is now officially opened thanks to a Carson City Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening festivities Thursday.

With a $1.2 million naming gift from the William N. Pennington Foundation of Reno and donations from the Carson City community, the club broke ground on the Teen Center at the Boys and Girls Club campus on Russell Way in October 2015. A sneak peek was given to the press last week ahead of Thursday's grand opening.

The program featured a multi-media presentation with Autumn Cuellar, Nevada’s Youth of the Year, refreshments and art show highlighting Club member projects and activities.

The new center includes art and technology rooms featuring green screen and video editing capabilities, video game room, café tables, foosball and pool tables, and bleachers equipped with electrical outlets for mobile device charging. The bleachers were designed and built in-house by Shaheen Beauchamp employees.

The 6,500 square foot center replaces the Club’s 1,200 square foot office space currently used for teens and offers rooms for homework, group activities, arts and crafts and a multi-media area. Teen Club members worked with the project design team to provide user input to the design and construction of the center. The Carson City Multi-use Athletic Center sits adjacent to the Boys & Girls Clubs’ campus.

The Teen Center completes the Club’s vision for teens to have a separate, dedicated space of their own with age appropriate facilities, and its partnership with Carson City for use of the city’s Multi-Use Athletic Center facility, which sits adjacent to the Club. The Club currently serves more than 300 youth ages 12 to 18 monthly.

The new facility will stay open until 6:30 p.m. to give teens a safe place to congregate after school and into the evening. Club officials are looking into keeping the Teen Center open later in the evenings and on Saturdays during the school year as membership grows. Teen Center dues are $30 per year and memberships are being accepted daily. Go here for more information.

On hand for the festivities were epresentatives from the William N. Pennington Foundation, builder Shaheen Beauchamp, architectural firm Lumos and Associates, and design firm Tectonics; Katie Leao, Club chief professional officer and Matt Sampson, program director, for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Nevada; Kurt Meyer, president, and Andie Wilson, vice president, of the Club’s board of directors and student Teen Center project leaders.

In-kind donations provided by: Proscape Landscaping, Western Nevada Supply, Cable Connections Co., Martin Ironworks, Sign Pro, Builders Wholesale, Kahl Commercial Furnishings and Cinderlite.

Financial contributions provided by: George & Barbara Allison, Allison MacKenzie, Ltd., James & Midge Breeden M.D., Barbara Byington, David Chase Charitable Foundation, Click Bond Inc., Complete Millwork Services, E.L. Cord Foundation, Dyer Lawrence Flaherty Donaldson & Prunty, Fraternal Order of Eagles # 1006, Freeman & Williams, CPAs, Grant & Joan Gardner, Juan Guzman, Robert Z. Hawkins Foundation, Harold Jacobsen, John F. Gardner, CPA, Steve & Wendy Kaplan, KBCA, LLC, Estelle J. Kelsey Foundation, Joe and Ellen Lesch, Locke & Betty Ray Lesch, Lumos & Associates, Charles N. Mathewson Foundation, Tim McFarren M.D., Miles Construction, Jon Miller, John Miller, William Myer, Maud Naroll, P.K. O'Neill, Pinyon West Center Partners, RCM Realty Group, Brenda Robertson, Mary Robertson, Shaheen Beauchamp Builders, Gary & JoAnn Sheerin, Cathy Smith, Rudy Staedler, Tectonics Design Group, Bob & Cathy Weise, Janet Whitemore, Daniel X. Wray, Phillip & Penny Wright and many anonymous donors.