Hanover Township's Open Gym celebrates 20 years of youth programming

Hanover Township's Open Gym program has worked to keep kids off the streets for 20 years, and is continuing its efforts to help young people build relationships and flourish.

Families and community members celebrated the program's anniversary Thursday with an open house at Tefft Middle School. While rain showers brought a halt to the scheduled potato sack races outside, kids played basketball and sang karaoke in the school.

Open Gym started in response to a 1994 Hanover Park youth-involved shooting. The mother of the child who was shot asked the township to develop a plan to help keep kids safe and off the streets.

Since the summer of 1995, the program has offered 104,000 kids a place to go after school and during breaks, said Hanover Township Supervisor Brian McGuire.

Parents, children and students put a high value on the program, said Outreach and Prevention Coordinator Michael Cohen.

"We hear from principals and teachers that kids act differently on days of Open Gym," Cohen said. "Kids look forward to the program, and we're hearing that repeatedly every year."

Students attend the program at rotating Elgin Area School District U-46 locations during the school year and over the summer. The program is free to families who fill out a registration form at the beginning of the year.

Streamwood resident Maria Aguilar's two children participated in the program, which she says offers a unique opportunity to families in the area.

"A lot of our parents cannot afford to pay for extra activities or any other sports," Aguilar said. "So this is a great way to meet people and socialize."

Open Gym also allowed Aguilar to volunteer and stay involved in the community as a parent.

"For me, it was more of the knowledge to know more kids and parents," she said. "It was more about being able to help my own kids with activities and knowing whether they were misbehaving or not."

While Open Gym participants can choose to play sports in the gym, work on art projects or play games, McGuire said the program also teaches children about community involvement.

"A lot of the kids go on to become volunteer youth leaders for the program," McGuire said. "They take those leadership skills and go on to college or into the work field and practice those skills they learn here."

Linda Hansen, 24, was an Open Gym participant while she was in school, and later came back as a volunteer.

She says the relationships she's built through Open Gym are invaluable.

"I've known Mike for 20 years of my life, and I emailed him as soon as I got my first teaching job," Hansen said. "I have the bond of going here as a kid, working it as an adult, and it's still going to continue to be part of my life because it's grown so much."