Friday night events return to Bridge Teen Center
SUBMITTED BY THE BRIDGE TEEN CENTER
The Bridge Teen Center has opened its doors again to host its regular Friday Night Live events.
With typical attendance ranging from 150 to more than 200 students on any given Friday, the organization opted to pause its Friday night programming at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in order to adhere to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s safety guidelines.
The first Friday night back was earlier this month on June 11, and The Bridge welcomed 101 new and returning students for its tropical-themed evening. Niko Tsiones, a 10th-grader from Palos Hills, expressed his gratitude for being able to attend FNL after such a long absence.
“I missed a bunch of my friends, and I get to see them today,” he said. “It’s been fun hanging out [again].”
His friend, Edward Keegan, a 10th-grader from Joliet, also shared how it was fun to get to come back and “see a lot of familiar faces and some new ones, too.”
As with all of their programs and events, The Bridge’s Friday night events aim to fulfill the organization’s mission to provide a free, safe space for students in seventh to 12th grade during afterschool and unsupervised hours that are holistically designed around their interests and needs.
The pandemic had caused The Bridge to pause its Friday nights during periods of high COVID-19 cases. But thanks to a sponsorship from Macy’s, The Bridge was able to distribute more than 840 “Bridge at Home” kits to students as a creative way to keep spirits up.
“For us, student safety is not something we were willing to compromise on — no matter how difficult it was to adapt our mission on the fly,” said Founder and Executive Director Priscilla Steinmetz. “It was difficult for us to alter and even pause our programming, but ultimately, we kept our students safe and found new and creative ways to serve them during the pandemic.”
The Bridge will continue to host its Friday Night Live events for students on an every-other-week basis from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Upcoming themes for Friday Nights include: Superhero vs. Villains Night on July 9; Bridge Olympics with Karaoke on July 23; BINGO and Rootbeer Floats on Aug. 6; and Campfire S’mores and The Great Outdoors on Aug. 20.
All programs and events at The Bridge Teen Center are free and open to teenagers currently in seventh to 12th grade with an approved student membership. Students who will be entering seventh grade in the fall are eligible for membership this summer.
“You can meet a lot of new people and make a lot of friends, so this would be a good place to go,” Tsiones said.
Students that are not members can apply for a free student membership at www.thebridgeteencenter.org.