YORBA LINDA : YMCA Youth Center to Open Next Year

Local junior high and high school students will have a place to play Ping-Pong, do homework or socialize when the Yorba Linda/Placentia Family YMCA opens an after-school youth center early next year.

The drop-in center will be open to any junior high or high school student who lives or goes to school in Placentia or Yorba Linda.

For an annual fee of $50, students will receive an identification card that allows them to use the facility.

According to Frank Jarmacz, executive director of the Yorba Linda/Placentia YMCA, the facility will be the first youth center opened by the YMCA in the county.

Parents of junior high and high school students have long wanted a place for their children to gather after school, he said.

“This program is for the kid who isn’t the superstar athlete, isn’t on student council and has no other place to go,” Jarmacz said. The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District did a survey “that showed there was a real need for it.”

The center, which will be at the corner of Imperial Highway and Bastanchury Road, will be open from 2 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Programs will include recreational activities such as pool, Ping-Pong, a computer lab and guest speakers.

In the evening, special-interest clubs will meet, such as a mock legislature, career club and adventure club.

Students will be free to come and go but must sign in and out.

“If a parent calls to check on their child, we’ll be able to tell them what time the child got here and when they left,” Jarmacz said.

The center will maintain a ratio of one adult for every eight students. College students also will be on hand to offer help with homework and supervise activities.

For more information, call the YMCA at (714) 777-9622.