Great Falls Optimist Club

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Junior Optimist Club Started at Langley High School

                  First Project: A Local Teen Center

 

With the help of the Great Falls Optimist Club, Langley students launched a Junior Optimist Octagon International (JOOI) Club in 2005.  President T.R. Cook, was instrumental in helping the teens go through the necessary paperwork. The GFOC also provided the seed money needed to get the JOOI Club up and running.  Allison Cohen, the original teacher sponsor, did a great job helping the kids get their club established, but she had to leave the position due to medical concerns, so the students are now looking for a new teacher sponsor.  

The first project the Junior Optimists decided to tackle was the establishment of a teen center in Great Falls, to give students a local place to hang out and have fun in a safe environment.  While the idea of a teen center was not new and has been tried or started many times, GFOC member Linda Thompson encouraged us and JOOI to try it one more time.  And this time it would be different; most importantly, this time it would be designed and run by students from the Langley High School Junior Optimist Club  (JOOI).

                                                                                                

The founding JOOI members Julia Smart, current president Lipi Gupta, vice president Tanvi Avasthi, and Treasurer Ariana Pike, stepped up to the plate to take on this enormous project. Evan Braff from the Fairfax County Recreation Department was instrumental in addressing the many important details such as securing a place for the teen center, providing security for the events, and moving the process along in the County. Other local officials who have been instrumental in bringing the teen center to fruition include  Supervisor, Joan Dubois and her assistant, Casey Hanes; Jackie Taylor of the Great Falls Citizens Association; Sheri Berman of the Safe Community Coalition; John Berman of the Great Falls Park Authority; and Pat Stevens of Fairfax County Human Services Dept.  ).  “Our focus is mainly on community service, so the teen center is going to be our big, year-long project,” said Tanvi Avasthi, in an article in the Great Falls Connection.

Now located at Forestville Elementary School, the teen center will host monthly events including movie nights; dances with music by local bands; art and music workshops, etc. The first event “Great Falls Rocks!” on September 22, 2006, was a dance for students in grades 7 to 10. It featured a D.J. and provided snacks and sodas.