Do you spend your weekends with nothing to do? Do you sit at home and wish that you had somewhere to go to hang out with other teens? Teens may be excited to hear that The Mt. Airy Community Board is considering building a permanent teen center.

This teen center might include a theater/concert area, a lounge room with food and drink, and maybe even some indoor sport facilities.

The mayor, along with several other volunteers, started a teen center in the basement of Town Hall. When they outgrew the space, the events were moved to Mount Airy Middle School. The organizer believes that now there is an even greater need for the teen population of greater Mount Airy to have a place to get together.

The Mount Airy Teen Center was for use by area teens ages 13-17. The teen center was open on some Fridays from 6:30-9:30 pm. Activities included movie nights and time to hang out with friends.

Senior Tyler Graham, intern for the mayor, has made many contributions to the idea of a teen center.

He said, “Mayor Pat Rockinberg appointed me to the Community Center Task Force late last year in the interest of having youth representation on the board. As a task force, we must choose a location for the center, choose the programming and activities that will occur in this center, and ultimately everything about it.”

Graham started by making a survey to get student input. Take the survey at mountairymd.com

Junior Jackie Brinkman said, “I’d love to take exercise classes such as Pilates and Zumba at the teen center.”

According to Tyler Graham, possible locations are still under exploration.

“I think a great place for the teen center would be in downtown Mt.Airy,” said Junior  Madeline Sheehy.

The main question for the Mt.Airy task force is how much the students would pay to attend.

“I would be willing to pay $15.00 as a monthly fee to attend the center and take classes,” said Brinkman.

Health Unlimited in Frederick offers a one month student membership for $55. With this membership, students have full use of the facility, including the pools, hot tub, basketball court, over 90 group exercise classes per week and extensive exercise equipment.

Teens in Mt.Airy have a limited number of places to meet, excluding the bowling alley and the skateboard park.

Sheehy said, “I think the teen center would be a great place to hang out with my friends.”

Graham is in a unique position to help because he is both a teen and a member of the Mt.Airy task force.

Graham said, “I love the internship, simply put. My wild imagination can run free in regards to what the town will look like in the future, and I have a lot of exciting projects that I’m working on that will make our town even more special.”

He said he has learned a lot of very valuable communication skills and governmental procedures from his internship.