Franklin Library Inviting Teens for TITAN

| October 28, 2019


FRANKLIN, Pa. (EYT) – Every Wednesday from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Teen TITANS meet in the Franklin Library until December 18, but it has nothing to do with the DC characters.

(Pictured From left to right: Lane Harrah, Dakota Bunting, Elijah Pfeuffer, and Megan Clark. Back, right: Stephen J. Snyder, Teen Coordinator. Photo by Franklin Public Library.)

Teens into taking action now (T.I.T.A.N) is a program all about giving teens a chance to hang out and learn a little.

“This is all about teens hanging out, having discussions pertaining to books and other topics,” said Teen Coordinator Stephen Snyder. “They can play both board and computer games and receive homework assistance if needed.”

The Franklin Library used to have a program for teens, but TITAN started in January.

“We did have a teen program earlier, but the grant money fizzled out and the team coordinator at the time left to pursue her writing career,” Snyder continued. “I came on at an interesting time and had to build everything from the ground up. The Titan program has been operating since January. We are recruiting mostly by word-of-mouth right now and also through our newsletter, Facebook, and our website.”

Snyder has worked at Franklin Library for approximately 13 years. While attendance varies but said on a “bad” there might be three, but last week there were 11.

“The word is starting to get out more and people are starting to bring their friends over. I’m hoping it will grow.

“This summer was a very busy summer for us, and we received a $2000 grant from Keystone Smiles to create a teen room in the library. Pennsylvania has realized that for all these years teens have been treated pretty much like second-rate citizens in that they come into the library and notice that there’s room for little kids, there’s a room for the adults, and teens are more or less expected that if they’re doing research to just get a book and get out of there.

“Now they’re trying to make the library a lot friendlier for students. We try to schedule everything after school hours. We’re trying to have a fundraiser with the vinyl cutter that we purchased with grant money to see if we can generate some funds for the teens. They are going to be making Christmas ornaments using that. We can take somebody’s picture, put it on vinyl and then put it over the Christmas ornament.”

Snyder emphasizes the program is also trying to encourage teens to get Life experiences.

“When we had this summer reading program they competed for the ultimate prize that was an iPad. They still won other prizes as they went along but it also required them to do things outside of reading such as volunteering at a convalescent home, church or something of that nature.

It’s also about getting more experiences.

“Some of them even painted rocks for kids to find. One of the people that was really big in the area for painting rocks for kids to find was Penny Minich who passed away over a year ago. I’m trying to keep that alive too.

“We’re trying to get the teens into mingling more with adults and doing things with

the little kids. This could help break down a lot of stereotypes that go along with that.”


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