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That would please Wendy Shill, the new executive director of WEEKENDS. A University of Central Florida graduate with a degree in marketing, Shill said the facility affords teens from the area a convenient meeting place. Students come primarily from five high schools - Winter Park, Boone, Lake Highland Preparatory, Dr. Phillips and Edgewater. Shill said more than 700 students are involved in WEEKENDS activities.
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When Barbara Tinsley formed the teen-age leadership group known as WEEKENDS at Winter Park High School five years ago, her immediate concerns were for her high school children, Jeff and Abby.
With a humble push from Tinsley, WEEKENDS made a commitment to help Winter Park teens have fun while serving their community. Instead of whiling away precious hours, the young people found motivation and self-esteem as they became active in community volunteer work.
Tinsley always hoped WEEKENDS would grow beyond Winter Park. The organization is now known as WEEKENDS of Greater Orlando Inc. to reflect its expansion into other parts of Orange County. A tiny one-room office, which was once in Winter Park, has been replaced with spacious corporate quarters at 626 N. Lake Formosa Drive in Orlando. The staff has grown from one woman to three full-time managers.
From the start, Tinsley said, community and business leaders responded to WEEKENDS.
"I'd ask them to help, and they'd say, 'Yes, yes, yes.' "
Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood was so impressed with WEEKENDS that she gave the nonprofit group free rent at a $300,000 building the city bought three years ago. The Orlando Science Center also uses the building.
"The building was unoccupied - just sitting there waiting for good usage," said City Administrator Bob Haven. "Mayor Hood thought it would be perfect for WEEKENDS. I looked at it and agreed. It was a way of helping a project the mayor firmly believed in and it was a way of protecting the facility itself.
"At first, we thought we could give them the building for a year or so. It could be longer if they want to stay," Haven said.
That would please Wendy Shill, the new executive director of WEEKENDS. A University of Central Florida graduate with a degree in marketing, Shill said the facility affords teens from the area a convenient meeting place. Students come primarily from five high schools - Winter Park, Boone, Lake Highland Preparatory, Dr. Phillips and Edgewater. Shill said more than 700 students are involved in WEEKENDS activities.
"My mom got me involved - maybe a little shove at first," said 17-year-old Natalie Caruso, a senior at Boone High School.
"The more I became involved, the more I loved it. I definitely like the way I am spending my time and the things I am doing. I feel good about myself and I know I have some meaningful things to add to my college resume."
Caruso, the social events chairman at Boone, said she and other teens work with adults to organize and conduct community activities. "The adults allow teen input," she said. "There is dialogue."
Shill, assisted by Laura Duncan, a full-time program coordinator at Winter Park High, and Laurin Cash at Boone, said people in the area have donated equipment for the new WEEKENDS office, but much more is needed. "We really could use a copier, a fax machine, a mailbox," she said.
"Something else is a mini-bus of some sort. Teens without transportation can't get here. They need a ride. Even if we could get a discount ticket for them - a quarter or 50-cent ticket to come to our facility and get home safely."
PHOTO: Among the expanding WEEKENDS group are (clockwise from top) Greg Cerbin, Iris Davila, Boone coordinator Laurin Cash, executive director Wendy Shill, Natalie Caruso, Amy Ariko, Mindy Hall and Winter Park coordinator Laura Duncan. FRANK RIVERA/SENTINEL
(Copyright 1993)