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Teen bands in Lytton Plaza?
A 24-hour pearl milk tea shop where teens could congregate?
Taco trucks and restaurant “food carts” to sell lunch to campus-bound Gunn students?
Those are a few of the dozens of ideas aired Saturday in the second of three “youth forums” aimed at giving teens a greater voice in the community.
The forum, which drew dozens of high school students as well as some business representatives, Palo Alto Police Chief Dennis Burns and much of the city’s political leadership, lasted three hours in the Mitchell Park Community Center.
By the end of the session, various adults had committed to help bring a food cart to Gunn, investigate youth internship needs and opportunities and work toward building a stronger and mutually beneficial relationship between Paly students and Town & Country Village businesses.
At the third and last forum, scheduled for April 3, participants will explain which ideas can be turned into concrete actions. The forums are sponsored by the City of Palo Alto, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, the Family Alto Family YMCA, Youth Community Service and the Palo Alto Unified School District.
The events were advertised to high school students throughout Palo Alto. Youth participation appeared to come largely from students involved with the Palo Alto Youth Council, Youth Community Service and student government at Gunn and Paly.
About 100 people participated in Saturday’s forum, and students circulated among three rooms with adults representing, respectively, school leaders, business representatives and community leaders.
Many of the desires expressed by teens had to do with wanting better relationships with their teachers and counselors, and wanting more late-night gathering spots for students.
“They’re asking for greater connection, sense of community,” Palo Alto Medical Foundation representative Becky Beacom said.
“If the counselors expect us to come to them with a problem, they should also be there in the good times and get to know us,” a Gunn student said.
Gunn student Philip Liang suggested counselors attend student sports events.
“If the counselors would go to some sports events and offer their congratulations and basically talk about the sports there, that would provide a way to connect them to the students,” Liang said.
“Counselors can’t expect to bond with students easily by saying, ‘Yeah, come talk to us.’ Students would rather talk to their friends. But sports kind of unites everyone, and activities could bridge the gap between students and counselors.”
Gunn students and parents had many questions about Paly’s system of “teacher advisors” as a means to provide college counseling and allow students to get to spend three years getting to know at least one adult at the school, who then writes the “counselor’s recommendation” for college.
Gunn’s counseling system functions differently, with a larger, separate counseling staff.
On the business side, Realtor Sunny Dykwel told students that downtown businesses are looking for teen bands to liven up the atmosphere at Lytton Plaza on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Students expressed a desire for low-cost venues where they could gather late at night, preferably with affordable pearl milk tea available. They do not have to be fancy, they said.
“If a place is reasonably priced enough and not dirty and ugly, a lot of times students will go there,” Gunn senior Vivian Shen said. “These stores can be shared among the entire community.”
Students acknowledged they need to be more responsible about picking up their own trash at venues like Town & Country Village if they expect to be treated with respect.
> On the business side, Realtor Sunny Dykwel told students that
> downtown businesses are looking for teen bands to liven up
> the atmosphere at Lytton Plaza on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
There was a time in the “old America” where downtown businesses actually hired kids in high school to work in stores, who then got “connected with the community”, and actually learned the value of honest work, as well as the value of a dollar.
But these days .. thanks to good ole Sunny Dykwel (et al) .. we have to hire bands to “entertain” Palo Alto kids .. who don’t really know much about honest, manual labor, or the value of a dollar when the leave here to start the next chapter of their lives.
I sure hope that the counselors at Gunn read this article. My son and his friend have gone to talk to the counselor and she is never available to talk, she is either absent or talking on the phone. How can they maintain a relationship if there is not enough counselors, I believe there are 5 or 6 for almost two thousand students.
Wow, where do we sign a petition for a late night milk tea shop? It’s like the local town hamburger joint for teens, but BETTER.
@Bob
don’t you think it’s up to the parents to teach kids the value of a dollar/honest work? how can you blame Sunny Dykwel, when the kids themselves are asking for entertainment.
If there were more social activities/concerts etc. for kids when I was a Palo Alto teen, then maybe we wouldn’t have spent so much time drinking and smoking pot with nowhere to go or hangout.
Work? Bob, all the kids do IS work, from the age of 5 on. Their good grades are what keep your property values sky high, so if you’ve made thousands of percentages on your original house payment, you have the kids’ hard work in school to thank for it. The problem for them is that they’re priced out of their own home town and won’t be able to raise their families here.
Bob’s probably grandfathered in by prop 13 anyway. Probably pays 1000 dollars a year in property tax’s while i have to play close to 13k……
1)There are few jobs for college grads, let alone high school students right now.
2)Don’t discredit the many hours of rehearsing that these kids put into their bands, and the fact that while they do this they are not aimlessly out on the streets, but doing something productive that they love. They NEED more venues to perform for and receive recognition from their peers.
3)Having safe places open late is a plus for kids. Happy Donuts has long been the place where they could go late, and where bands could play. Jungle Copy has also been very generous in providing a local venue for bands.
4)Most kids are good, hard working students. I don’t think they are asking too much.
Virginia… you are absolutely correct
Interesting. A push for later start time at school because teen sleep schedules don’t allow for early morning starts. Now they don’t think they have enough all night hang-outs. Could we be seeing a break-down in logic? For bands you may need a venue—as far from residential areas as possible.
AS to hanging out, do kids ever just hang out at one another’s homes any more? I grew up in the boonies when cars were less available, and the parents at the home we were visiting always saw to it that everyone left and got home at a semi-reasonable hour. Adults went to work and we went to school, and there was church, chores or homework on the weekend. Never heard about teen sleep problems.
Pearl milk tea? Really?
Seriously though, a safe place for kids to hang-out, somewhat supervised, is important for teens. Most families don’t have enough space for a large group of teens to hang out at home (maybe JB grew up in an area with basements).
And as a teen, my parents went to work, I went to school, had chores and church on the weekend, but very little homework, just the occasional project. We hung out at a couple of kids’ houses who had big basements or whose parents went away for the weekend frequently, and at the local burger place.
Anyone know of fun things for teens to do on Fri. and Sat. night in Palo Alto area? There seems to be a lack of cool activities that are not “party” related. Thanks.