Two who care

By Shirley Harriman

Lake Los Angeles – Sorensen Park – Pictured is Brianna Dawson and Tyrone Brooks. Both are employees of Los Angeles Country Parks & Recreation. Both applied for and received extensive training to be chosen as Instructor for the new teen park program called Our Spot.

Brianna has been with the Park for 6 years. She is an outstanding basketball player and coach. Tyrone comes from Jackie Robinson Park. Before joining Parks & Recreation, Tyrone was a volunteer for 7 years and has his obvious skills on the basketball court.

Enter Our Spot. Our Spot is new to Sorensen Park. It is a pilot program with Parks & Recreation. It is a program for teens and by teens. It is designed to be a safe, judgment free learning zone for teens 7th-12th grades. SPOT is an acronym for Social Place & Opportunities for Teens. The teens chose their name.

Daily there is a room set up for the teens that is private, adult free and judgment free. Teens decide what they want to do. They can write music, learn new productive skillsets, chose games they want to play, be artistic, chose what field trips they want to take and places they want to go and see and experience. There will be art, dance, silk screen, music studio, tablets for graphic design and any other activity the group chooses.

Instructor Tyrone spoke of the training, “We learned how to recognize issues, we learned about creating and maintaining a safe environment, how to write progress reports, learned about curriculum based on the RISE program, learned how to choose activities that help us understand personalities so we can get to know each other better.”

Instructor Brianna commented, “We want to teach teens how to be leaders and maybe eventually become Park employees or leaders in any other industries. We want them to come here and hang with each other in a judgment free zone and where they don’t worry about any other outside influences. We want to give them incentive to participate. We will go on field trips to parks, beaches and other places they want to go. Our goal is to get them to locations where they would otherwise not get to go outside of their hometown. Our sole purpose is to get them there. This is a two-year pilot program that could be expanded.”

When Regina Bradley, Recreation Services Supervisor at Sorensen Park and Parks After Dark Coordinator, North Agency, Los Angeles County Parks & Recreation spoke of Our Spot, she said, “We are starting on a small scale. We want these teens to grow comfortably here.”

For more information about Our Spot, please contact a staff member at the Park. The number is 661-264-1249.