With assistance from two students, Tom McCurdy, center, demonstrates how to construct a planter box during a workshop at the Glen Allen Project Teen Center & Maker Space.

POCATELLO —A group of local residents seeking to provide an after-school gathering place for local students recently merged efforts with a downtown Pocatello nonprofit to create the GAP Teen Center & Maker Space.

The GAP Teen Center & Maker Space — run by the Glen Allen Project, or GAP — is envisioned as a multi-purpose site where teens and pre-teens can come after school Mondays from 3-5 p.m. and Tuesday through Friday from 4-6 p.m. to relax, recreate, hang out or participate in activities.

The center is located in Historic Downtown Pocatello at 426 W. Lewis, Shop #2, in the rear of the North Building across the alley from Lookout Point.

The center’s core demographic is students ages 11-18, but all students are welcome, said Sunny Sage Bybee, president of the GAP Board of Directors.

During the past year, GAP had held art and STEM workshops, but grant funding ended. The need for a teen center offering a vibrant space for young people to relax, hang out, work on projects or attend workshops did not end with the grant.

According to Ruta Casabianca, a teen center committee member, the concept for the GAP Teen Center & Maker Space originated during a parent-shared leadership workshop at GAP last October.

“The parents all said, we need a teen center, we need a safe place for our teens to be able to hang out, after school,” Casabianca said. “We were sitting outside, actually, and we were thinking, where in the world could we do that? And it was one of the parents who looked over and said, well, why don’t we just do it at the Gap?”

As plans for the GAP Teen Center & Maker Space took shape, Casabianca and others formed an oversight committee and she sought funding by filing grant applications.

On Jan. 30, during an open house and orientation for the center’s debut Feb. 2, Casabianca received a call from the Idaho Children’s Trust Fund informing her the center would receive a $10,000 grant taking effect April 1.

One pressing item is choosing a new name for the center. Submissions are being accepted at the center until May 1 and can also be submitted to Ruta Casabianca at rcasabianca1@gmail.com

Casabianca is also recruiting volunteers willing to share their knowledge and experience with students.

“I’ve probably gathered at least seven to ten people that are interested in — I don’t want to say classes — but in instruction and mentoring and then using the facilities to do their own work,” she said.

The center is envisioned as an intergenerational space where participants work together on projects as diverse as e-sports, woodworking, textiles, robotics or homework help.

The center recently acquired a 3D printer and is purchasing a glass kiln.

Casabianca hopes word gets out among students about the tools and workshops available.

“It takes a while before kids get comfortable coming to a new place,” she said, “and also to encourage them with things that are going to be exciting for them.”

Every Wednesday, Sage McCurdy will discuss strategies for playing Magic: The Gathering, a game played with cards or digitally on computers, smartphones or tablets.

Another planned workshop will focus on crocheting plastic bags.

A recent workshop featured the Portneuf Pollinators Partnership and focused on planting native plants to support bees, moths and butterflies.

“They taught us how to plant things and get them ready for spring planting,” Tom McCurdy said. “People took them home to tend them and then they’ll be ready to plant in six to eight weeks.”

An unpainted planter box sits on a table while McCurdy, left, and two students assemble another planter.

Out of that workshop, McCurdy developed a follow-up workshop to build planter boxes for the native plants.

On a recent Monday afternoon, McCurdy and two Pocatello High School students were busy building the planter boxes.

“A lot of these kids that come here, they’ve been in school all day,” McCurdy said. “They don’t necessarily want to be taught another thing, unless it’s something they’re interested in.”

McCurdy is also a GAP Board of Directors member and serves as treasurer and bookkeeper.

A painting of Glen Allen hangs from the loft of the center, located in Historic Downtown Pocatello at 426 W. Lewis, Shop #2, in the rear of the North Building across the alley from Lookout Point.

The Glen Allen Project was created five years ago as a memorial legacy by Glen’s brothers, Gary and Gregory, and his friends.

Glen grew up in Pocatello and in 1965 was recognized as Idaho’s Presidential Scholar and met President Lyndon Johnson.

Two years ago, GAP secured its current location from Denis Clijsters, owner of the North Building and a GAP board member.

Clijsters came to know Glen through weekly open mic sessions at Station Square on Thursdays.

“He was, I think, central to the arts here in town,” Clijsters said. “A lot of creative people here were started with the help of Glen. I’m not sure if he did it on purpose or not, but he really helped a lot of people in the community kind of discover their passion and kind of sent them off to success.”

Home

Historic Downtown Pocatello's new GAP Teen Center gives local youth space to unwind, create and belong