Local teens were doing more than just playing basketball at 16 community centers across the city this summer.
They were participating in job readiness internships, creating quilts for cancer patients, taking photographs, preparing healthy meals for themselves and learning cosmetology skills through an initiative called STUNTING. An acronym for students that unite and take initiative against gangs, STUNTING was provided through a partnership between Chattanooga Parks and Recreation, Prevention and Youth Development and First Things First.
STUNTING participants and award winners Devanta Tumlin, left, and Shorhonda White showcase the awards they won by participating in programs this summer. White won the Greta Hayes Intern and Leadership award and Tumlin won an award for outstanding participation in the Games-A-Rama program.“With STUNTING we tried to provide activities and programs that teens asked us for through the summer to help keep them off the streets,” said Prevention and Youth Development Services activity coordinator Marcus Thomas. “This summer we had 354 teens participate.”
Shorhonda White, a 16-year-old Red Bank High School student, and Devonta Tumlin, a 15-year-old Howard High School student, were two of those teens.
For White, this summer was an opportunity to learn job readiness skills through a six-week internship and earn money of her own for the first time. Through the Next in Line program that is part of STUNTING, White and other teens were provided with a work opportunity to help community center staff during the ongoing Kidz Camps this summer.