Si View sets out to reach teens
November 19, 2008
By Laura Geggel
Snoqualmie Valley teenagers can play video games, participate in eating contests and play frolf — otherwise known as Frisbee golf — with each other and the staff at Si View Metropolitan Park District. In an effort to engage more teenagers, especially middle school students, the park district is offering Teen Nights at Si View and monthly lunchtime activities at Chief Kanim, Snoqualmie and Twin Falls middle schools.
A teen tries to retrieve a Twinkie during a food-eating contest at Si View’s Teen Night.
Ryan Daly, the park district’s youth and athletic coordinator, started the Teen Nights in 2007 and hosts them about once every two months. The next Teen Nights will be held at the Si View Metropolitan Park District, 400 S.E. Orchard Dr., North Bend from 8-11 p.m. Nov. 22, Jan. 24 and March. 21.
Teenagers have gone to the Teen Nights in droves. About 70 came to the first event and a group of about 40 regularly attend. Admission costs $2.
Activities include a dance and D.J., X-Box tournaments, eating contests, 3-on-3 basketball and dodge ball, among others.
“Teen Nights are a great opportunity for local students to come hang out with friends in a positive and safe environment,” Daly said. “The middle school students in the Snoqualmie Valley are extremely courteous and well-behaved.”
But Daly’s well-behaved teenagers are anything but during the eating contests. At a recent contest, teens donned plastic bags over their torsos and placed their hands in their laps before diving into a plate of spaghetti that had Jolly Ranchers hidden among the pasta and sauce.
“It’s like the grosser I make it, the more excited they are,” Daly said.
He plans to have a hot wing-eating contest at the next Teen Night.
Isaac Davis, an eighth-grade student at Twin Falls, said he has attended every Teen Night. If the parks district didn’t have the events, “I would probably just sit at home and play games on my laptop,” Davis said.
Instead, he said he enjoys going to the dance floor and playing Guitar Hero and Halo with friends.
Seventh-grader Kaylie Fode agreed.
“I think it’s really fun. It’s a cool place to hangout,” Fode said. “They have music, energy drinks, an open gym and Xbox.”
The park district also coordinates with the Valley’s middle schools during lunch. Daly noticed middle school students were not as involved in park district programs, so he met with the middle school principals in the spring and scheduled a once-a-month lunchtime activity with each school.
During the last 15 minutes of lunch, “we come in and run quick activities such as dodge ball, soccer, Frisbee golf, or any fun type of game we come up with,” Daly said. So far, almost all of the students present have participated.
The next trip is scheduled for Twin Falls Middle School Nov. 20. Teenagers can also join the park district for weekend fieldtrips, including paint balling in Everett and Mariner’s games at Safeco Field.
As their teenage base grows, the staff at the park district will create more opportunities for Valley youth.
“We’re really trying to expand our programs,” Daly said.
Reach reporter Laura Geggel at 392-6434 .221 or lgeggel@snovalleystar.com.
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