Shauretta Robertson was looking at a computer screen at the Hampton-Illinois branch library when she found out about the Best Buy Teen Tech Center located near Fair Park. After she and her son, Carlton Robertson Jr., met with program leaders, he started visiting the center at age 12 on Fridays after school.
Shauretta Robertson, a retired teacher and guidance counselor, said the initial visit marked the beginning of a “love affair” with the center.
“They showed him how to do different things in the Teen Tech Center,” she said. “From that point, he began to show a greater interest in technology, in music production, in visual arts, in architecture.”
In a building located alongside the Juanita J. Craft Recreation Center sits the Teen Tech Center, a space for young people ages 12 to 17 to learn videography, coding, music production, robot building and more. The center, which launched in 2016, is a collaboration between Best Buy, the Clubhouse Network, Dallas Park and Recreation and the Dallas Parks Foundation.
The Clubhouse Network, a nonprofit aimed at providing out-of-school opportunities for underserved young people, and Best Buy operate teen tech centers in dozens of cities across the United States. Leaders at the Dallas location say the center helps bring students from different schools in the area together and supports their journey to college or work after graduation.
In the summer, Carlton Robertson Jr., a sophomore at David W. Carter High School, will intern at Cyber-Seniors, a nonprofit and Best Buy partner that provides free technology support and training for older people. He’s grateful for the skills the program taught him.
“I came in knowing nothing about photography,” the 16-year-old said. “But they really helped me.”
Deonanna Perry, who facilitates a career pathway program at the center that involves hosting workshops and field trips, teaching students how to write cover letters, and preparing them for interviews, said the center allows students to “better assist the community.”
Students have the opportunity to become part of the Youth Leadership Council, which meets monthly to come up with projects and plans to help the community, according to council facilitator Lorenzo Reid-Deloatche.
Reid-Deloatche, a recreation assistant at the center, said the council has created care packages for homeless residents and participated in park cleanups.
Perry has also been instructing the technology program since previous coordinator Amanda Mukhin moved into her role as interim park marketing and relations specialist at Dallas Park and Recreation.
The pandemic led the center to reduce capacity for a program that typically serves 200 students a year.
Another recent change is the presence of younger faces.
Mukhin and Perry said the center is hosting children, ages 7 to 12, who get an opportunity to build robots and participate in other activities. These students enter the center after attending camp at the Juanita J. Craft Recreation Center.
The teenagers will return to the center on June 21, following the last week of the school year for the Dallas Independent School District, Perry said.
In addition to photography, Carlton Robertson, Jr. said, at the center, he developed interests in video editing and music production.
Students have access to Adobe software to edit photos and videos through the program. Reid-Deloatche, a rap artist, helps students produce their own music in a studio tucked behind glass windows in a corner room.
“They come up here and they kind of just get to express themselves through music,” Reid-Deloatche said. “We do the Dallas Teen Tech Fest, which, before COVID, it was an actual in-person concert, and they would bring out family and friends and their supporters.”
Nick DiCarlo, treasurer at Dallas Parks Foundation, said the group receives donations on behalf of the city to fund the program. The foundation and Dallas Park and Recreation worked to submit a grant proposal to the Clubhouse Network before its initial launch, Mukhin said.
“Best Buy donates a significant amount of money via this entity called the Clubhouse Network. Dallas Parks Foundation receives that money,” DiCarlo said. “And then the Teen Tech Center uses that money to buy technology.”
Shauretta Robertson said the time her son has spent at the center has left an indelible mark, largely because of the staff members who deeply care about their students.
“They are hard workers. They were willing to take him where he was and expose him to the different arenas that they have at the Teen Tech Center,” she said. “He’s not confined to one area of technology.”
