Summer opportunities abound at teen town hall

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Nestor Cruz
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  More than 150 Kadena teens discovered food, friends, fun and, more importantly, opportunity during Kadena Air Base's first teen town hall meeting and information fair June 2 at the Schilling Community Center. 

Representatives from a wide range of Kadena organizations participated in the 18 th Mission Support Group-sponsored event and answered questions about different programs available to keep teens busy during the summer. 

"I've heard teens say there's nothing to do on Kadena, so I made a commitment that before summer starts we would have a teen town hall meeting and information fair to show teens there are many things to do on Kadena," said Col. Charles Ennis, 18th MSG deputy commander. The target audience for the event was 13 to 18 year olds looking for something to do, the colonel said. 

"We wanted to give them information on constructive and positive activities so they don't find themselves in situations where they're just hanging out with nothing to do, which sometimes leads to mischief," Colonel Ennis said. 

About 30 teens signed up to volunteer for the upcoming Special Olympics event June 24, said Art Arao, Friends of Kadena Special Olympics senior advisor. 

"It's important for teens and young adults to make good choices in life and be good contributors to society," Mr. Arao said. "The teen town hall meeting is a great idea and a chance for teens to find opportunities for community involvement." 

Fletcher Wooden, Teen Center Millennium director, talked about the Youth Employment Skills program. The YES program, geared toward students in grades 9 through 12, helps teens earn college money through volunteering. More than 15 teens, including Kadena High School senior Kristen Whited, expressed interest in the program. 

"My goal is to save money for college and the YES program seems like a great opportunity to do that," Miss Whited said. "The teen town hall meeting offered more jobs than I expected. The opportunities presented at the meeting are good ways to avoid staying at home with nothing to do but play video games all day." 

The 18th Services Squadron briefed about job and volunteer opportunities available as a recreation aide at the base pools, Kadena Marina, Karing Kennels, base library, golf courses and sports pro shops. Representatives from the base commissary, human resources office and the Red Cross also briefed about job and volunteer opportunities.
The event was an overall success, said Colonel Ennis and others. 

"I'm very pleased with the large turnout for our first teen town hall meeting," Colonel Ennis said. "We had support from nearly every agency on base, from great prizes given away by AAFES and 18th SVS to good food and drinks provided by DeCA, the USO and 18th Wing chaplain services. 

"Teens are now aware of summer opportunities on Kadena. That was our goal," the colonel said. 

Event participants praised the teen town hall meeting as well. 

"I really had fun at the town hall meeting," said Miss Whited. "There was good food and the presentations were really informative and covered everything we needed to know. All the speakers and organizers did a great job keeping the meeting interesting for us."
Volunteers from chaplain services and Airmen Committed to Excellence also helped make this event a success, said Natasha Freeman, 18th MSG teen town hall coordinator. 

"Now that teens know what opportunities are out there and how much fun this has been, hopefully they'll tell their friends and we'll have a bigger turnout next year," Ms. Freeman said. "It's all about giving our teens constructive opportunities." 

For more information on volunteer and job opportunities for teens, call Natasha Freeman at 634-5148.