Teen Tech Week Kick-Off Party @ Freedom

Freedom Regional Library hosted the system kick-off party in celebration of Teen Tech Week on Monday, March 3. Teens from Phillip O. Berry Academy of Technology, Harding University High School and from the surrounding communities participated in the festive event.

Colleges were on hand to showcase their technology programs and students from the UNCC's Computer Science Dept. discussed careers in IT with the students. Devry University, Central Piedmont Community College and ITT Technical Institute also had booths set up.

Jesse Vieau from Imaginon's Teen Loft set up the Gaming Zone for teens to play "Rock Band", Nintendo Wii and Call of Duty on some Alienware laptops that were networked together.

The Mix Academy DJs were scratching some rhythms with assistance from many of the teens. The portable Animation Station was also set-up for demonstration in addition to Teen Second Life in the student lab. Library staff, teens and even the parents and younger children in attendance had a great time with all the activities. A few lucky teens left with door prizes including one teen who won an iPod shuffle.

Teen Tech Week is a national initiative sponsored by the Young Adult Library Services Association and is aimed at teens, their parents, educators and other concerned adults. The purpose of the initiative is to ensure that teens are competent and ethical users of technologies, especially those that are offered through libraries such as DVDs, databases, audiobooks, and videogames. Teen Tech Week encourages teens to use libraries' nonprint resources for education and recreation, and to recognize that librarians are qualified, trusted professionals in the field of information technology. Teen Tech Week began in 2007 and has a general theme of Get Connected @ your library. The 2008 celebration is March 2-8.