Orlando library lets teens' voices be heard

By Chris Wellander | Special To The Sentinel
June 22, 2008

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/community/news/azaleapark/orl-orteens2208jun22,0,672947.story

Downtown Orlando on a Thursday evening. A band is tuning up to play a set; the crowd is seated and waiting; the refreshments are overflowing.

But when this band of teenagers performs, its music will ring out through the cavernous first floor of the Orlando Public Library -- not exactly what one would expect from a place known for telling folks to keep quiet.

Programs like open-mike night go on all the time at the library and would not exist without the library's teen programs, many created by the teens themselves.

The original Teen Voices council was made up of students from Howard Middle School. Since then the group has grown to include teens throughout Orange County.



"Teen Voices is our teen advisory group," said Heather Pippin, the teen-council coordinator. "We go to them to ask questions about programs; they come to us and ask us to hold programs that they think other teens would be interested in."

The program started about five years ago as a way to get more teenagers involved in the library. According to Pippin and Danielle King, the library system's first teen programming coordinator, these young people have a huge amount of input into what goes on at the libraries.

"None of the library's programs would have happened without Teen Voices," said King, now an assistant manager at the Alafaya branch. "Sometimes we think we have a great idea, and we go to them and they say, 'Uh, no, teens won't go to that.' "

"One girl I remember was really shy, and in three years she was president of Teen Voices and started the Animanga Club," said Danielle King. "It also gives the younger teens someone to look up to."

Teen Voices meets every month to decide on upcoming programs and to talk about related teen issues. Every club the library has developed, from the robotics club to the performing arts club, were originally developed by Teen Voices.

Douglas Rintoul, 16, is Teen Voices president and a University High School student.

"It's a lively discussion," Douglas said. "Everyone's bubbling over with ideas, most of the time, and we usually end up narrowing it down to three or four choices and then voting on them."

Events such as the video gaming competitions, teen movie nights, and even parties for the volunteers were all chosen and planned by the group. They have a hand in setting the summer reading list by picking the theme and even selecting some of the books. They even picked out the furniture in the lounge area, known as Club Central.

The students also find that Teen Voices has helped them develop skills that might have remained dormant if they hadn't gotten involved.

Vanessa Williams, vice president, said Teen Voices and the library's other programs help teens stay out of trouble.

"It gives teens something else to do," Vanessa said. "Like right now, I could be at a club or something, like some other people I know, instead of being at the library."

Vanessa is home-schooled and has been with the group for four years.