South End Teen Center

09/05/2026

🍪 Baking memories (and delicious treats!) with Stephanie!

Our amazing volunteer Stephanie visited the center on Wednesday and spent time working with our members to make fresh chocolate chip cookies completely from scratch.

Stephanie stops by once a week to work magic in our kitchen. She takes staples we already have on hand and turns them into hands-on teaching moments for our members, whether that's:

🧑‍🍳 Masterclass baking like homemade cookies
🥕 Prepping veggies so they are ready for future meals
💡 Getting creative with pantry items to make fun, delicious dishes

Thank you, Stephanie, for being such an incredible volunteer and giving our members practical skills (and warm cookies!). We are so lucky to have you with us! ❤️✨

09/04/2026

Every Wednesday brings a new adventure with Brian from Four Peaks Counseling, and this week we took things on two wheels!

Our crew got hands-on with the essentials before hitting the dirt:
🔧 Learning how to properly pump up tires
🛑 Mastering the brakes (a absolute must-know for controlling speed on the trail!)
🛡️ Practicing key trail safety rules to keep everyone protected

A massive thank you to Quarry Road Trails for letting us take part in your Adventure Club! For many of our youth, this is their very first time getting to try mountain biking—and having access to world-class trails right here in "the Ville" is truly special.

It really does take a village, and we are so glad you are part of ours! ❤️🚲✨

09/04/2026

We are pumped to team up with every Thursday for exciting hands-on music exploration. Whether you’ve been playing for years, want to learn an instrument from scratch, or just want to hang out and jam with friends, this is your space.

📅 When: Every Thursday
📍 Where: The Teen Center
🎸 What: Instrument jam sessions and good vibes with expert instructors from Snow Pond.
🎟️ Cost: Completely FREE!
No experience necessary and all instruments are provided. Just bring yourself (and maybe a friend or two).
Drop in next Thursday and make some noise with us! 🥁✨

08/25/2026

A massive thank you to for the amazing donation of shampoo, conditioner, and soap for the new school year! 🧴✨

Helping our teens head back to class feeling fresh, confident, and ready to learn makes all the difference. Thank you for showing up, giving back, and being such a vital part of our community—we truly couldn't do this without your support! ❤️

08/24/2026

We are deeply honored and humbled to receive the Community Award from the Waterville Public Schools Board of Education! 🏆❤️

They say it takes a village. Every program, every milestone, and every success story happens because our community chooses to show up, collaborate, and invest in our youth together.

This award belongs to our whole community—our staff, volunteers, donors, and most importantly, our amazing teens. Thank you for your partnership, your trust, and your unwavering support!

08/23/2026

🌲 Huge thanks to Kennebec Savings Bank for their Catalyst Grant, which made an incredible three-day Adventure Therapy experience possible for our members and team!

Through this intensive project—and with invaluable guidance and knowledge transfer from Four Peaks Counseling—our staff gained hands-on experience putting core Adventure Therapy concepts into practice.

Adventure Therapy provides a safe, supportive space for young people to explore the outdoors, build meaningful friendships, and discover healthy pathways for managing stress. This trip created core memories that both our members and staff will cherish for a long time to come.

Thank you again to Kennebec Savings Bank and Four Peaks Counseling for investing in our team, our youth, and our community! 🏕️🛶✨

08/20/2026

As summer winds down and back-to-school season kicks into high gear, our hearts are overflowing! We want to send a massive THANK YOU to our incredible community and to everyone who contributed to our summer fundraiser. Thanks to your kindness and generosity, we officially raised over $7,600—and we are already putting those dollars directly to work where they matter most.

One of our absolute favorite ways to use your donations is helping local families and teens get fully prepped for the new school year. As anyone with growing kids knows, back-to-school shopping gets expensive fast, and shoes are easily one of the biggest expenses on the list. Today, thanks to your giving, we got to turn that shopping stress into pure joy!

We took 9 of our members on a quick road trip over to the New Balance tent sale in Skowhegan. Our teens were excited to pick out fresh, high-quality sneakers so they can strut into their classrooms on day one feeling confident and ready to tackle the year.

A huge shoutout to the amazing team at New Balance! Thank you for letting us take up a whole lot of space in your store, for your patience, and for helping us hunt down the right shoe for everyone. We also owe a giant round of applause to our fantastic volunteer, who came along for the ride to Skowhegan to help our members find the perfect fit in the right size. Having extra hands and caring hearts makes all the difference!

To every single donor who chipped in this summer: you made this moment happen. You gave our members confidence, comfort, and a strong start to their school year. We love our community so much, and we truly could not do any of this without you! 👟✨

08/15/2026

🥗 FROM OUR GARDEN TO OUR PLATES! 🌿✨

Our garden beds have been absolutely bursting with life lately, and we've been enjoying the tasty rewards of all our hard work!

We harvested:

🥬 Crispy, fresh lettuce
🍅 Juicy, ripe tomatoes
🥒 Crunchy cucumbers

There is nothing quite like eating something you grew with your own two hands—it was delicious! 😋

💚 A HUGE THANK YOU to our incredible community partners for supporting our garden program this year. Your generosity and belief in our youth helped make this garden flourish. We couldn't have grown any of this without you! 🙌🌱

08/14/2026

Check out our summer newsletter!

Summer is always busy, but this year's Adventure Therapy trips brought some of our biggest challenges yet. Over the past few months, our teens tried new activities, built outdoor skills, and learned what they're capable of when things get tough.

08/13/2026

🎟️ WHAT A DAY AT THE SKOWHEGAN FAIR! 🎡✨

Today, our crew headed out for the very first day of the Skowhegan Fair, and it’s safe to say we had an absolute blast!

We packed so much fun into one day:
🎢 Riding all the rides
🍿 Treating ourselves to delicious fair snacks
🐄 Saying hello to some very cute farm animals

Even when a little rain shower tried to crash the party, we popped on our trusty ponchos, stayed completely dry, and kept the fun rolling! 🌧️🧥

The sweetest part? For many of our teens, today was their very first time ever going to the fair! Watching them experience all the fair magic for the first time made the day extra special. ❤️

This was our final group field trip of the summer, and we honestly couldn't have picked a better grand finale. Thank you to everyone who made this summer so unforgettable! ☀️🙌