TERRE HAUTE —
Jimmy Smith is excited about the changes coming for the Terre Haute Boys & Girls Club, which will open an expanded after-school program in September in the technology building of the former Chauncey Rose Middle School.
“We have so many opportunities here that we don’t have at the other building,” Smith, the club’s executive director, said Tuesday while on a brief tour of the former school site that the club now owns.
While the longtime location of the club on Third Street will still have its gymnasiums and lobby open for use, much of the programming offered at the landlocked location between Cherry and Chestnut streets will be transferred to the former middle school site.
On Sept. 4, the gymnasium of the former middle school (and of Gerstmeyer High School) will open for youth recreation. The technology center at the northwest corner of the property along Third Avenue also will open — with six former classrooms hosting computer skills areas and learning centers; arts and crafts; and a teens-only activity room with game tables, a television and comfy couches.
“We have served about 50 kids on average in the after-school program in the past,” Smith said. “They were all drop-off kids. Here, we have kids nearby at Deming and Franklin elementaries, which are in walking or biking distance.”
Smith said he hopes the programming in the roomy facility picks up at least 100 more children who can use after-school tutoring, activities or buddies to hang around with while staying safe in their own community.
The nonprofit organization recently announced that it has received a $15,000 grant from Staples Foundation to support the expansion of the after-school program “Kids Who Need Us Most” to also include a summer program.
The full-day summer program will provide local kids with an opportunity to build self-esteem and learn responsibility by participating in community service projects and team sports activities. Support from Staples Foundation will add educational, physical and mentoring opportunities in the new building for youth and volunteers in the program.
The most recent donation will be among many Smith hopes are yet to come.
The organization has already received $10,000 from an anonymous donor and another $20,000 from the Wal-Mart Foundation. An application is in the works for another foundation grant for $22,000.
As Smith walked through the technology center and the gymnasium at the former school, he repeatedly pointed out the advantages of the new location — the first one being space, for both programming and storage.
The Howard Sharpe Gymnasium will retain its historic name, along with the popular display cases that showcase the history of basketball at the long-gone Gerstmeyer High School and the recently closed Chauncey Rose Middle School.
“This place, this is special,” Smith said as he walked through the gymnasium lobby and talked about the history made on the basketball courts.
While some renovation is needed — such as lower basketball goals for little kids — much of the gymnasium facility will remain the same. Two of the tennis courts south of the building at the corner of Locust and 13th streets will be removed to provide parking for the gym. The lobby entrance and front counter will remain as they are for the children and parents to enter.
Eventually, the middle school building will be demolished, after it is stripped of valuable parts that can be sold or reused. A new gymnasium facility is planned for the classroom building site, but that will likely be a few years into the future, Smith said.
A former city policeman, Smith has been director of the Terre Haute Boys & Girls Club for the past 15 years.
“I grew up with the Boys Club,” he said.
Providing a safe environment for kids to play like kids is a challenge that he and the club’s board of directors are eager to meet.
For more information about the Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club, go online to www.thbgc.org.
Reporter Lisa Trigg can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or lisa.trigg@tribstar.com. Follow her on Twitter @TribStarLisa.
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Related Photos
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Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Preserving basketball history: Jimmy Smith says the Gerstmeyer Technical High School memorabilia display in the old Chauncey Rose Middle School gym will remain a part of the new Terre Haute Boys & Girls Club.
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Tribune-Star/Joseph C. Garza Room for possibilities: Terre Haute Boys & Girls Club Director Jimmy Smith describes what is in store for the club's technology building which is the former Chauncey Rose Middle School technology building Tuesday during a tour of the facility.
Discussion
Boys & Girls Club preparing for move to new location
Former Chauncey Rose school gym should be open by Sept. 4
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