By: Dick Brinster
With suggestions from young people a major thrust of a proposal to establish a teen center in the East Windsor-Hightstown area, the school assignment of a Rutgers University freshman is getting a hard look from the man spearheading the local project.
Still, the business writing class plan of former Hightstown High School student Matthew Peterson was a surprise to Glenn Johnston, who came up with the teen center concept shortly after his stepson, Brian Landry, died last summer from tainted heroin.
Mr. Peterson a 2006 Hightstown graduate who says he was not personally acquainted with Brian despite being a year ahead of him in school explained that his only initial motivation was completion of an assignment for a business proposal on any topic. The East Windsor resident chose an essay on a teen center.
"I went home one weekend and my parents showed me an article in the local paper about how the Johnstons were trying to get a teen center in the area," Mr. Peterson said. "I did not even know that they had been working on a project that was similar to mine."
He contacted Mr. Johnston, who was so impressed that he incorporated some of Mr. Peterson’s ideas stated in a letter last month to East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov in his planning for the center.
"He was pretty much on target with the message we are trying to deliver to the community, that we need a facility for teens," Mr. Johnston said.
Mr. Peterson, a 19-year-old student from East Windsor, says he isn’t done yet.
"The project everyone saw last night (March 6, at the East Windsor Township Council meeting) was only in its very beginning stages," he said. "I am currently working on the final proposal."
Mr. Peterson’s plan calls for partial funding for the center in the township’s recreation budget. He also suggested financial backing of such a facility by the township’s largest employers.
"The center would also be subsidized by local corporations like Conair, McGraw Hill and Shiseido America that make their world headquarters in our town," Mr. Peterson wrote. "These multi-million dollar corporations are always looking for ways to improve their communities and their reputations."
Mr. Johnston, who says he plans to solicit those companies and churches next month, received backing from several area merchants last month when the Brian Foundation staged a dance to kick off its fundraising effort. He has said other efforts, such as a battle of bands, are being planned for the near future.
"We’re also going to try for federal and state grants," Mr. Johnston added.
Tom Halligan, executive director of operations for Japan-based Shiseido, the world’s oldest and fourth-largest cosmetics manufacturer, said Monday that the company would prefer to meet privately with Mr. Johnston and reserve comment for the time being.
The other two companies did not return calls seeking comment.
Both Mr. Johnston and Mr. Peterson would model their teen facility on the Bromley Center in Hamilton, which opened in August 2005 in a renovated firehouse and offers a number of after-school activities such as video games, pool, chess and movies. It cost about $30,000 to get the facility up and running, and about $2,700 a month to keep it operational, said center director Gary Gray.
He said most of the original cost and the upkeep are funded by state grants provided through discretionary funding by the municipality.
Mr. Gray said there have been no problems from teens attending the center.
"It has worked fantastically," he said. "We have over 80 teens registered and 20 or 30 attending each night.
Mr. Peterson said he conducted a survey recently, asking 100 area teens between the ages of 14 and 19 how they spent leisure time after school, on weekends and in the summer. He reported that 22 percent said they go out of town to find recreation; 40 percent said that there could be more to do in town; 42 percent said that there was "almost nothing" for them to do; and 80 percent went to parties at which alcohol and other substances were present.
In his proposal, Mr. Peterson noted a Mercer County census showing there are more than 3,600 people between 12 and 21 in East Windsor and Hightstown. He said the census shows the teen population growing and the availability of recreation and community based activities unchanged.
"There has come an even greater need for recreational programs and activities," he wrote.
Citing the work of Wayne Munson, a professor who heads Kent State University’s School of Exercise, Leisure and Sport, Mr. Peterson said most professionals believe recreation promotes initiative, increases motivation and discourages delinquency among teens, and that participation in recreational activities in the community fosters a sense of attachment to a town.
Mr. Johnston, complimented for his work after recent presentations to the East Windsor and Hightstown councils and the Regional Board of Education, is happy to hear that professionals agree with the concept of youth programs. But he says contributions by young people such as Mr. Peterson are invaluable to his quest.
"Get the kids involved," Mr. Johnston said. "Find out what the teens want and let them make their decisions. Let them tell us where they would like to go and let us assist them."

