Tepee helps teens become teenagers | News & Business

Tepee helps teens become teenagers

Date: 5/23/2008 Album ID: 524111

Photos by Anthony Soufflé

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Every Friday night during the school year in the town of Collinsville, Ill., junior high students from the area's surrounding schools flock to a plain, brick building at the end of the town's aging Main Street. Open since the 1955 the center has eased thousands of Collinsville-area teens into their high school years providing a place for supervised yet unstructured lessons in socialization.

The time before the start of Tepee is just as important to many of teens as is the actual night. Audrey Whittaker, 12, laughs as, from left, Aidan Brow, 13, Zach Ghast, 14, Luke Langreder, 13, joke as they wait outside for the doors to open on Friday night.

Early in the night boys and girls gather separately as Alyssa Miller, 14, center, laughs along with a group of her girl friends and a group of boys talk nearby in the basement of Tepee. As the night wears on the two groups come together, talk, dance and laugh after the initial hesitation wears off.

Katie Nogel, 13, left, and Chiara Santangelo, 12, dance to a pop song on the dance floor at Tepee.

Questions can sometimes be answered with just a look as Dallas Feltman, 13, questions Bailey Frisk, 14, about the next slow dance.

Colton Clark, 13, puts his arms around his girlfriend Chiara Santangelo, 12, as the two dance to a song at Tepee. For many teens their first relationships start at Tepee as they are allowed to interact with the opposite sex in a way they are not in school.

A boy's ands wrap around his dance partner as the two embrace on the dance floor at Tepee. Slow dances separate the those looking for romance with those more interested in dancing to upbeat pop songs with their friends.

As an added measure of safety for the teens at Tepee the board of directors have an officer from the Collinsville Police Department on hand every night to deal with any problems. Brandon Dillen, 13, talks with officer Phil Surrey after Dillen took too much medicine for his cold and, feeling drowsy, asked to call his parents and go home.

At just more than 5-feet-tall, Corey Williams, 14, like most of his boy counterparts is noticeably shorter than most of the girls at Tepee, a testament to the awkwardness of this time in a teen's life. His height however, does not stop him from doing his best to win a dance with girls at the club.

Michael Acosta, 14, becomes the center of attention as he dances amongst a group of his friends on the dance floor at Tepee. The adult board tries to keep up-to-date with the music teens listen to, however every so often DJ Tim Hasamear plays a song from the past, if only just for himself.

A group of teens gather together in the basement game room of Tepee. Many teens carve out their social niche at Tepee as they gravitate toward different groups and cliques.

Too young to drive, teens search the parking lot around Tepee for their awaiting parents as Audrey Whittaker, 12, moves in for kiss with her boyfriend Alex Ferguson, 13, as another Friday night comes to end.

Cliff Hasamear, who's parents Tim and Pat have operated Tepee under the guidance of a board of trustees for the past 23 years, vacuums the entryway at Tepee after the last of the teens have cleared out for the night. Every Friday Hasamear, his parents and brother, along with a group of volunteer parent chaperones preside over the teen's night.

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