How a Utah County charter school helped hundreds with on-campus teen center

SALT LAKE CITY — A teen center on a school campus in Utah County is keeping hundreds of community members fed, clean and warm every month.

Rockwell Charter High School, in the heart of Eagle Mountain, accommodates students from across the county. Executive Director Kat Mitchell said the area serves mostly "working-class families — both parents are working all day."

The teen center began with a volunteer in the school's cafeteria, Anke Weimann, who said it all started one day when she saw something that pained her.

"I was volunteering in the kitchen, and I saw a kid eating out of a trash can," she said. "I think I was so taken aback because, just my preconceived notion of 'America has got everything, and it's got help for everybody.'"

She began to notice other signs — old duct-taped shoes, no coats on cold days, or falling asleep in class.

Weimann decided something needed to be done. She applied for and received a grant through the nonpartisan nonprofit The Policy Project, and the teen center was born, finished and furnished last year.

The teen center now allows students to visit to get water and snacks, find a quiet studying place, take a nap, get clothing, shower and do laundry.

Weimann said hundreds receive service every month. After school, community members with no ties to campus are also allowed in to use the facilities.

A central operation in the teen center is a coin system, where students earn coins by doing small tasks for teachers and staff. Weimann said the teen center was slow to start without it.

"A kid said, 'Ma'am, if you start the coin thing, we would feel like we earned it,'" Weimann said. "And that started the food thing. And so many kids came and was excited to 'OK, let's go spend our coin because we worked hard,' and then it started evolving and (became) 'I'm going to take something home for my family to cook tonight.'"

Now students come and go from the center as they need, with the expectation that they go to class.

A student, Justin Davies, 18, said he stops by sometimes not just for the snacks, but for the community.

"I've grown a pretty good relationship with Anke over the years because I've come in here every day, even just not for snacks, just to say 'hi' to her because you enjoy talking to your teachers and your peers here," he said.

Senior Georgie Wilkinson, 17, agreed.

"I know that some people don't have the houses for people to come over for, like group projects or anything like that," she said. "This is just a space for students to come in and work on that stuff, have food, have a place to just rest and some quiet from the chaos that is their life."

Mitchell added that the school's goal with the center is to teach students self-regulation skills.

"So, teaching the students, 'When you feel like you need a break, advocate for that. We have a space for that,'" she said. "And of course there are some rules and boundaries around it."

Ultimately, Davies said he sees the teen center as an important resource for those who have a hard time asking for help.

"Some people don't want to talk about the struggles that they have to deal with," he said. "Like, if they don't have the same resources for food, money, I think this is a great option for them to come and maybe only talk to one person about it and be able to get a snack, and then not have to feel the same embarrassment."

Wiemann said that was the reason for starting the center in the first place.

"There shouldn't be barriers to education," she said. "So anything that I could do to fill so that kids can just worry about studying — they don't have to worry about, 'I'm hungry,' or 'I need a shower,' or 'I need a coat.' Come into the teen center, and I'll find that."

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