Although it's known as the Teen Center, it opens its doors to younger children during the school year, helping them with reading and writing. In the summer, the center brings teens together for field trips to bowling alleys, skating rinks and miniature golf courses. The Teen Center has been around for six years, but many visitors to the mall may not know about it. Hidden down a long hallway, behind two double doors on the lower level of the mall, it's not easy to find. But once the hallway is found, colorful tissue paper flowers affixed to a bulletin board extend a welcome to visitors and point the way to the teen center.
Posters promoting drug and alcohol awareness cover the walls.
The center is open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. It's also loud. As the card game continues, teens in a back room can be heard screaming as they play a game. Heather makes it a point to come to the center every Friday for movie night and to see friends. Her mother, too, has made friends.