The first Best Buy Teen Tech Center in North Carolina is up and running. The opening ceremony was held on Tuesday, in northwest Charlotte. The facility has an array of equipment, including computers, a recording studio and 3D printers, to help bridge the digital divide in the community.
A large crowd gathered inside the McCrorey Family YMCA on Beatties Ford Road for the center's launch. The space is about 1,600 square feet, with drawing tablets for animations and a green screen photography space right outside a recording studio.
Tucked away from the crowd in the recording booth with large speakers by his side was 18-year-old Jerome Tompkins. He was being coached on how to produce music beats — something he’s been doing for a few years.
“I think this is going to help a lot because there’s a lot of professional equipment. So, it’s really going to improve my quality.” Tompkins said.
Tompkins, who lives about nine minutes from the center in the Sugar Creek area, says being here brings out another side of him.
“It’s really connecting me with more people,” Tompkins said. “Getting me more social because, you know, I’m like kind of anti-social, so it’s really helping me with that. I think anybody who wants to make music, and explore creativity, should definitely come here.”
In the middle of the center, there are several computers available. According to The Center for Digital Equity, more than 14% of households in Mecklenburg County do not have internet access. That’s almost 56,000 homes. Shatorie Jones is the Best Buy Teen Tech Center Coordinator and has worked with the YMCA for ten years. She said the center helps overcome this issue.
“We’re definitely breaking barriers. They can come here free of charge. They can come and do their homework. They can come and create things. They can use the internet,” Jones said. “We’re giving them all the tools they need to be successful.”
Andrea Wood is the vice president of social impact at Best Buy; she said the center targets middle and high school students to help direct them during a pivotal time in their lives.
“They are trying to figure themselves out, trying to figure out what they like to do, their identity. And many of them, quite frankly, don’t have a place to go after school,” Wood said. “So, giving them a place where it’s safe, where they have caring adults and mentors, and then giving them an opportunity to develop these amazing tech skills.”
A key objective of the center is to enable teens to explore their passion.
“We hope that many of them will pursue a post-secondary education of some kind,” Wood said. “We also have scholarship programs, and our goal for the teen tech centers is that every teen graduates from high school with a very clear plan in place and that they have the resources and the support they need.”
Charlotte is the 52nd location of Best Buy Teen Tech Centers in the country. The center on Beatties Ford Road was made possible through partnerships that include Atrium Health and the McCrorey Family YMCA. Stan Law, president and CEO of the YMCA of Greater Charlotte, said the center provides vital resources to help teens flourish.
“It’s about access, giving kids the opportunity to use equipment that they don't have access to at home and really getting them to dream about what they might want in a career-long term,” Law said. “That's really the digital divide, is those who have access can dream; those who don't have access just are limited.”
Prior registration is required before using the Best Buy Teen Tech Center, which can hold up to 80 people between 13 and 18 years old. The center is open Monday through Thursday from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
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