We are excited to announce our new “Empowering Teens Month" initiative launching in November (a new, positive spin-off from our 10+ years of acknowledging National Bullying Preventional Awareness month). This initiative brings much-needed awareness to the importance and impact of afterschool programs that help ENGAGE, CONNECT and EMPOWER teens to navigate life and discover who they were created to be.

Inspire Dental Wellness of Orland Park opened its doors exclusively to Bridge Teen Center students during a free program.

Bridge Teen Center alumni Lizzie O’Hearn and Macaela Wagner returned to their favorite teenage hangout to give back to the next generation.

Orland Park resident Louis Kerfman credits his career path as a future chef to his time spent in culinary programs at The Bridge Teen Center.

The Bridge Teen Center Hosts Week of Free Programming Promoting the Benefits of Gardening.

Performing community service has been shown to offer a number of benefits for young people before, during, and even after their high school years. The benefits of volunteering can have a holistic effect on students’ lives—professionally, educationally, and personally.

Cyberbullying is defined as the electronic posting of mean-spirited messages about a person (such as a student) often done anonymously. Cyberbullying varies from traditional bullying in many ways. Find out why people cyberbully and learn the signs and symptoms of cyberbullying.

Though any particular community service opportunity can be valuable on its own merits, the act of volunteering itself is also fundamentally beneficial for the growth and character of the teen who volunteers. In addition to making a difference in the community, volunteering can provide a unique sense of purpose for a teen at a formative time in life. 

Bullying can be found in all types of organizations and societal structures, but it is perhaps more obvious and destructive during the middle school and high school years. The concept of bullying behavior in schools has been presented so often in films and television that it has become almost an expectation of being a student. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Even though bullying has been around as long as humans have lived in societies, there are bullying prevention efforts that can make these formative years safer for middle school and high school age students.