Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic
Having seen Newberg Christian Church’s sports and recreation program flourish in the past year, Pastor David Case not only felt his church was well-positioned, but would be eager to step up and help meet a need in the community when asked if it could provide a safe after-school outlet for middle school students in Newberg.
That’s why the church is creating MyZone, a middle school drop-in center that will be open to all students in Newberg weekdays from 3 to 5 p.m. The program begins on April 4.
“With our facility, we feel like it’s a great fit,” Case said. “We don’t have it all figured out, but we don’t want to be on the sidelines criticizing our young people. We want to be part of the solution.”
The name arose from the way the church will divide the center into various zones, including the gym for sports and physical activities like basketball and volleyball, a media zone with movies and entertainment, a video-game area, a hang-out area in the lobby and a study zone for homework and quiet time.
The church is conveniently located between Chehalem Valley and Mountain View middle schools and is also within walking distance from C.S. Lewis Academy and Veritas School. It will be open to homeschooled students as well.
Transportation from the public middle schools to NCC will be provided. Students may be able to get a ride home at 4 p.m. on the school district activities bus or can be picked up by their parents at 5 p.m.
MyZone will be directed by Tom Stram, who took over the church’s sports and recreation program 18 months ago. Stram and an NCC youth minister will keep an eye out for kids who exhibit positive character traits that are already reinforced by the schools.
The program will feature a punch card system. Attending the StudyZone will be worth two punches, for instance, and students will receive some kind of reward when they reach 10.
“We also want to have some life skills teaching opportunities,” Case said. “We have a kitchen that serves over 200 meals a week and so the cooks said they would love to volunteer to teach a cooking class and we have a great kitchen facility.”
The impetus behind the program came from a group of teachers at CVMS, who approached principal Karen Pugsley and the school’s community council because they felt there were few free after-school activities available to middle-school students.
Love INC executive director Jodi Hansen, who sits on the community council, reached out to Case and the program has been moving forward steadily ever since.
Case said that in addition to the church’s already strong relationship with the school district, it had been primed to do some youth outreach after hosting a pair of “Living in Community” seminars focused on the problems facing young people, including depression and drug abuse.
In addition to mentioning that young people need good outlets in order to feel a sense of belonging when he spoke at one seminar, Rod Robbins of the First Step Adolescent and Adult Treatment Center in Newberg floored Case with one particular statistic.
“He said that research shows that 80 percent of teenage drug use takes place Monday through Friday between 3 and 5 p.m.,” Case said. “We think MyZone will help stem that tide and make a difference.”
The center will rely heavily on volunteers, who must go through an application process and pass a background check. Case said that buy-in from individuals and organizations in the community has already been quite strong.
Robbins, for instance, will provide an intern from his treatment center on a weekly basis and Newberg’s two Rotary groups have pledged funding to purchase equipment. Several former teachers have volunteered to provide tutoring in the StudyZone and Case is working with various stakeholders in the community in the hopes that organizations, clubs and individuals from places like George Fox University and Newberg High School will provide further manpower and specialized learning opportunities.
The program will run until the end of the school year before scaling back to one day a week during the summer, depending on demand and how the spring goes.
“We think it’s going to take a little while to take off, but we’ll get some of the kinks worked out and next fall it will really be going,” Case said. “I hope it takes off right away.”
Case was clear that there will be no religious agenda in the operation of MyZone. The church, rather, sees itself as one partner in the project and Case believes the widespread buy-in from the community so far is evidence of that.
“Because the need is there people want to be involved,” Case said. “That’s what’s great about Newberg, right? Everybody wants to help out and it doesn’t matter what it is.”
