Community Corner
Teen Night at Memorial Pool Begins With a Splash
50 teens enjoy the first teen night of the summer
The Westfield Memorial Pool hosted its first teen night of the summer on Wednesday night.
The teen nights, a pool tradition, are held weekly on Wednesday evenings from 8:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. While open to all teens from sixth to eleventh grades, most of the attendees were intermediate school students.
According to pool manager Matt Cognetti, the event received an average attendance of around 50 teens for the first night of the 2009 season. The program features a DJ and dancing, along with use of the water slides and pool. Recreation department officials have said organized activities are usually not planned for teen nights in order to allow the teens to be social with each other.
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“Even though I think tonight was a very good turnout, there are still some nights where we can get over 100 kids," Cognetti said. "On other nights, when people are away, we can get numbers as low as 20 to 30 kids so it varies.”
With most of the pool facilities at their disposal, the teens enjoyed themselves immensely.
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“Teen night is a great place for my friends and me to meet and hang out, and it’s only $5, so I think it’s worth coming to,” said one seventh grade teen, who declined to give his name.
Attendees were overheard talking about how they enjoyed having the pool complex to themselves for the evening. Cognetti said that the events allow the teens to have a good time in a safe environment.
One of the major concerns heading into the night was the weather. According to one of the lifeguards on duty, weather plays a large role in how many teens end up attending teen night. However, the weather ended up cooperating with teens noting that the weather worked well for swimming and dancing.
According to Cognetti, teen night was a huge success. All of the teens enjoyed themselves and that is the staff’s primary goal in hosting the event according to Cognetti.
“I love teen night; who doesn’t love swimming with their friends and listening to music?" said an eighth grade student, who declined to provide his name.
