Teen summer: Queen Creek rolling out programs for the summer, year-round

Summer break is almost over, so naturally teens are going to try to pack in as much fun as they can before the school bell rings.

In an effort to keep teens engaged and safe over the summer, the town of Queen Creek has been rolling out numerous activities, with the newly opened Recreation & Aquatic Center providing a boost.

“We’ve been able to start a lot of different types of teen programs and classes and events that have started to attract teens regularly,” said Adam Robinson, director of parks and recreation for the town. “The opening of the recreation and aquatic center just kind of amplified that even more since now we have a specific teen room space within the rec center that’s open every day.”

Helping the town develop programs is the pivotal advice and feedback it receives from members of the Mayor’s Teen Advisory Committee, which was formed in 2024.

“What adults think is cool is not necessarily what teens think is cool,” said Town of Queen Creek Council Member Dawn Oliphant, who also served as the teen committee’s first council liaison.

Even with children of her own, Oliphant said the quicksilver trends of teens have changed since her kids grew up.

Teen input

The committee and creating new programs for teens was a long-held dream of Mayor Julia Wheatley, one that Oliphant said the mayor had been championing even before she was on the council.

“The advisory committee has been integral to all of the new teen programs that we’ve been putting on,” Robinson said. “In their regular meetings they discuss the different types of programs and challenges and ways to get the word out. They are the key component to our overall teen program.”

Members of the Mayor’s Teen Advisory Council just finished their inaugural year.

“A lot of stuff has come back to us (asking) what are our opinions on it, who would like it, do we want to be in charge of it, do we want to have more input from the adult perspective. So, there’s been a little bit of a kind of back and forth,” said Taumi Spencer, chair of the committee, who just graduated from Perry High School.

What could have been a daunting mission was made easier by leaders such as Oliphant and Christian Cervantes, a recreation coordinator for the town who handles the teen programs.

“Our hands were being held pretty much the entire way through which is really nice being able to show us what we needed to do when we need to do it,” said Charlie Gonzalez, vice chair of the committee, who just graduated from Benjamin Franklin charter school.

The teen committee has been integral in the launch of a drive-in movie program that is set to take place in the fall or winter.

To get even more ideas from teens, the town held the Teen Tank in June, a week-long entrepreneurship camp where teens built a team, brainstormed a creative concept and pitched their ideas for events to Parks & Recreation staff.

Teen-friendly events

Over the past year, the town has launched initiatives just for teens with the first high-profile one being LINK QC.

Under the LINK QC banner, teens have been able to take part in get-togethers involving music, dancing, video gaming, board games and laser tag. The events were almost exclusively held at the Recreation Annex.

Since the opening of the recreation and aquatic center at Frontier Family Park in March, a number of LINK QC events have been migrating to the center where it has hosted volleyball, basketball and pickleball tournaments.

In the center’s teen room, LINK QC has held a Switch 2 launch party, an e-sports camp. An escape room and Nerf battle are set for later in July, Robinson said.

The LINK QC events and the center have been making inroads. The center logs an average of 36 teen visitors per day with as many as 52 teens taking part in one evening event.

Specific to the LINK QC program, an average of 20 teens take part in each program with total participation reaching a peak of 40 in one night. Over the past year, 214 teens participated in LINK QC programs.

“Teens are probably the most difficult group to reach and activate. The Mayor’s Teen Advisory Committee has been a huge boon to be able to truly reach into the local schools through their friends and peers but we’ve also been very active with outreach events,” Robinson said.

Another hit with teens is the aquatic center where they can float around the lazy river or shoot down the water slides.

“The two middle slides time how fast you go down them. You see the teens going down again and again and again trying to beat their scores,” Robinson said. “That part has probably been the most popular — that and the high dive.”

Spencer and Gonzalez, along with their fellow teen committee members, have acted as personal ambassadors to get their peers excited about the new activities and programs.

“I think a lot of kids are just looking for somewhere to go, something to do. I think it also puts parents at ease,” Spencer said. “There was a lot of positive feedback when I would invite my friends to go do the teen activities during the week or even to come to some of our events.”

While the specifics of what activities attract teens may always fluctuate, Spencer and Gonzalez said there’s one thing all teens like.

“It’s free. Kids are always looking for something to do that’s free,” Spencer said.

And options are always welcome.

“You can only go to Target so many times a week. Whenever me and my friends hang out it’s like, ‘All right, what are we doing tonight? Are we going to watch a movie at someone’s house or go walk around the marketplace,’” Gonzalez said. “It’s just it’s nice to have more options of somewhere you can go, because doing the same thing over and over again drives you crazy.”

Please send your comments about this article to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines. Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org.