Herriman High adds a teen center to its campus
Oct 12, 2023, 1:00 PM
Members of Cottonwood High School’s staff, students and parents dig during a groundbreaking event for a teen resource center at Cottonwood High School in Murray on Thursday, June 1, 2023. A Teen Living Center will soon open in Layton. (Ryan Sun, Deseret News)
(Ryan Sun, Deseret News)
HERRIMAN, Utah — More Utah high schools, including Herriman High School, are adding teen centers to their campuses.
High schools across the state have started creating teen centers using grant money and donations. The Utah Legislature appropriated $15 million earlier this year to create these centers. The centers help provide food, clothing, and toiletries. Some have shower facilities and washer and dryer amenities.
A teen center will open at Herriman High School next month. Chris Titus, the vice principal at the school, said a growing demographic at their school needs extra support.
“We do have a large population of non-English speakers, and when we enroll the kids they don’t know any English,” Titus said.
The teen center is located right at the heart of Herriman High School and provides necessities like food, clothing, and toiletries. Eventually, they want to add a shower, washer, and dryer.
“There’ll be plenty of food, we’ll have some material items and clothing and toiletry kind of stuff,” Titus said.
Herriman isn’t the only one. Salt Lake City School District has teen centers at all of its high schools, Weber School District just added one at their alternative high school, and Granite School District’s Cottonwood High School recently opened one.
Titus said the number of students who need these resources has grown exponentially over the last four or five years. The demographics at Herriman High School have also been changing. Titus said they are trying to help where they can.
“We do have quite an influx of students experiencing homelessness,” he said. “Also, we have a large number of immigrants that are coming here directly from a foreign country.”
