The Athens Community Center has opportunities for all ages to get involved in a class or event. The Community Center puts together art shows, workout classes, dance classes and so much more.
For young children, there are crafternoon classes, where they can learn to make ceramics, summer camps, youth soccer more. For adults, there are fitness classes available for any fitness level as well as volunteer or job opportunities.
Katlyn Sauvage, administrative operations specialist of the Community Center, said the current adult yoga class and Bootcamp workout class are full. The adult ballet class still has a few open spots for spring. Pre-registration is required for these multiple-week classes.
“These classes and possibly others will be offered again in the summer. Registration for summer fitness classes will begin in mid-June,” Sauvage said in an email.
There are other ways that university students and Athens residents can get involved besides taking classes. Emily Beveridge, teacher of crafternoon and program specialist for ARTS/West, said there is currently the 4th annual Cat Art Show being displayed.
“It’s an open show for anyone to participate in… I am going to extend the drop-off to the entire month of April,” Beveridge said.
This means that anyone who wants to put a painting of any kind, can drop off their art at the ARTS/West Center until the end of April and it will be displayed in the show. Many university students were unaware of this opportunity to have their art on display. The art will be displayed at ARTS/West, 132 W State St., and Casa Nueva, 6 W State St., for the second month of the show.
Anthony Gasbarro, an artist and junior studying entrepreneurship at Ohio University, is interested in the opportunity the show provides.
“I haven’t heard much from the center ... I'm actually curious about it and I'd like to hear more about that,” Gasbarro said.
Any art can be displayed as long as it can be hung up on the wall. Contributions to the show can be dropped off during ARTS/West’s open hours.
Another way that students can get involved with the Community Center is through volunteer and job opportunities. Beveridge said ARTS/West is accepting work-study students currently and anyone interested can email her.
“For grant students who are eligible to do a work-study, ours last 28 hours a week through the summer or 10 hours a week through the school year and the pay rate is $10 an hour,” Beveridge said.
Students looking for a summer job or volunteer opportunity have other options as well through the community center.
“Currently we have students from Coaching Education assisting with running some of our youth sports programs,” Sauvage said in an email. “We are also currently hiring for seasonal positions for our parks maintenance, summer camp, and pool.”
Anyone interested in a volunteer opportunity can email athensparks&rec@ci.athens.oh.us. Anyone who is interested in a job opportunity can apply online at http://www.ci.athens.oh.us/480/City-of-Athens-Jobs.
The current spring schedule with registration dates and information regarding COVID-19 precautions can be found on the Athens Community Center website.
