Youth Center Planned at San Clemente Middle School

Officials at Shorecliffs Middle School in San Clemente and the South Coast YMCA are planning to put an after-school youth center on the Shorecliffs campus by next fall. The facility would be the first of its kind at a South County middle school.

“We’ve had on-campus, school-based programming at elementary schools for 10 years,” said Vince Corsaro, South Coast YMCA’s executive director. “As kids have been moving into middle schools, we’ve just gotten a lot of people coming to us saying, ‘Where are all those things I was used to?’ ”

The move for such a facility also gained momentum as a result of recent acts of violence involving San Clemente youths after school hours, said Shorecliffs teacher and activities director Adam Ochwat.

“We’re looking for more ways to keep adolescents active,” Ochwat said. “We’re trying to give them options to the streets.”

Plans for the center are expected to be considered by the YMCA and Capistrano Unified School District boards in the next two to three months. Corsaro and Ochwat said they hope to have it operating by the time school opens in the fall.

All elementary school campuses in the Capistrano school district have portable buildings, provided by the YMCA, that give children a place to go and activities to keep them busy until 6 p.m.

The YMCA operates a middle-school pilot program at Willard Intermediate School in the Santa Ana Unified School District, but there are no other such facilities in the county, Corsaro said.

The new youth center would be located in a 2,000-square-foot, $60,000 portable building provided by the YMCA on the campus at 240 Via Socorro, Corsaro said.

Details on what would be available at the center are still being worked out, but Ochwat said it could contain computers and books for studying, along with video games and other recreation equipment. The school’s existing basketball and volleyball courts could also be used.

“The idea is to set up a place where they can study, talk and organize athletic events--a safe place for someone to go and hang out for an hour or two,” Ochwat said.

Corsaro added that he hoped many of the ideas for organizing the center would come from those who will be involved with it the most.

“We would like to see a high degree of involvement in the program by the students and the parents, so there is a sense of ownership,” he said.

Ochwat said the school is attempting to raise at least $20,000 in cash or equipment to furnish the facility. “We’re open to donations of computers, video equipment, furniture, whatever it might be,” he said.

The school also is sponsoring a fund-raising dinner on Feb. 5 at 5:30 p.m. that will include appearances by professional athletes, a drawing for sports memorabilia and an auction. The cost is $35 a person or $300 for a table of 10.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call the San Clemente Chamber of Commerce at (714) 492-1131.