Hangouts: A New Ulm Dilemma

The harsh winters of Minnesota are upon small-town New Ulm. Negative temperatures and heavy snow make even going outside dreadful. Even in these conditions, teens are teens and want to have fun! This raises a problem. Students like Calyn Glaser, a junior at New Ulm High School, have trouble finding options for hanging out somewhere where they won’t have to spend money and can stay warm.

“When I’m with friends, we mostly drive around town. It can get expensive,” she says.

Little do people know, a place like this existed 50 years, and even 10 years ago: the New Ulm youth center!

“As I recall, it had a ping-pong table, chairs and couches, board game tables, and maybe a pop machine,” said Mayor Terry Sveine, who got to experience the original 1971 youth center in his sophomore year of high school.

“One thing I recall from my own experiences was that the youth center – ideally open to anyone – found a natural selection where only certain “cliches” participated,” Sveine said.

Mayor Sveine explained that the people who usually hung around the youth center were the ‘squares’ or ‘uncool’ kids. “Going to the youth center and its association with the “squares” eventually became a place shunned by many of the other kids.”

After the lack of interest, the center shut down a year into its running. Students were left to find places like parking lots and restaurants to hang out at until 40 years down the road when a new youth center popped up.

This youth center started off with the same promising outlook. Sheldon Reike opened the center with the Healthy Communities, Healthy Youth (HCHY) on 1st North and Broadway in 2010.

Unfortunately, it fell to a similar fate.

“Shortly after opening, troubles began with some angry kids getting into fights with others, going so far as seeing one ill-behaved person throwing rocks at others inside the building,” Sveine says.

People were put off from the center because of its ‘trouble-making’ reputation. “Eventually it developed into a core group of 10-12 kids coming to the center. This wasn’t enough participation to prove viability and by early winter, about six months later, it closed.”

But why not try again? Surely there is still a community of students in 2021 that could use a youth center.

“The thought that kids need a youth center has not been compelling, as there are many options for kids as it is now.”

Sveine feels that Parks and Rec facilities, sports, jobs, and clubs largely outweigh the need for a youth center.

As a teen who would use the center, Calyn is an advocate for it: “I think kids would just be happy that there’s something else to do in town. I think students nowadays would be pretty responsible because they would want to keep it around as long as possible.”

Some people like Junior student Emma Miller keep the idea up for debate: “I feel like kids would still misuse a youth center by vandalizing it or not using it for its purpose. It would be a good idea in theory but I think people would be immature.”