Our local high schools are having finals right now. Because we were so packed during midterm exams, I decided to throw a study hall. We started yesterday, and I estimate we had a total of 25-30 teens make use of it, the most at one time was about 15. Not too shabby, though I'm hoping for more today and tomorrow!
It's easy enough to do--I just booked our auditorium for Thursday-Tuesday, and had all the round tables set up. I borrowed the laptops that our ANF department uses for computer classes and set them up, and had the IT department set up a printer so that I can offer free printing! I filled a table with supplies that I thought they might need--paperclips, staplers, tape, markers, pencils and pens, scrap paper, rulers. I bought Doritos, Cheetos, and pop in bulk (and some other snacks) and put them out on a counter (all free for studying teens!). Tomorrow I'm coming in and doing nothing but Study Hall all day, so I'm getting them pizza. I made sure to notify the schools, and one of them has been in contact with me. They've been pushing it hard during announcements and that sort of thing. The kids who came yesterday loved it--I heard a group of boys talking as they left yesterday about how much more they got done than they would have at home.
Even if the crowd was a little small yesterday, it was made up mostly of teens I've never seen before, which is definitely a success. I left flyers about summer reading around, and filled the display case across from the auditorium doors with summer reading prizes.
Such a simple thing to do, yet it has helped our bond with the local schools and general community goodwill. I had adults popping their heads in to see what was going on and commenting on what a good idea it was. Yay!
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