After School Coalition hosts bowling

BY JULIE MURPHY
STAFF WRITER

Though it wasn't a 300 game, the Martin Luther King Day bowling event sponsored by the Mundelein After School Coalition was deemed a success.

Middle school students filled the Lakeside Lanes Family Recreation Center for the morning session. Unfortunately, sunshine, unseasonably warm weather and a high school basketball game played on the court of the United Center kept the high school students occupied elsewhere when the afternoon session began.

"This is the first year we've done this," said Sgt. Mark Parrish, of the Mundelein Police Department, which sponsors the coalition along with all of the school districts, the Fremont Library and the Mundelein Park District. "We had about 50 kids here this morning. For doing this for the first time, I think we had a decent turn out."

Mundelein Police Chief Raymond Rose said the goal of the Mundelein After School Coalition is to provide students with positive activities outside of school.

"The whole idea of the coalition is twofold," said Rose. "These kids are not getting into trouble by doing bad things. Also, we are not generating new victims. The kids who wouldn't necessarily get into trouble, aren't being victimized by the ones who would."

Parrish said the idea for a day of bowling grew out of the DARE event held last President's Day.

"We had over 200 kids here that day," he said. "That was only for the kids involved with the DARE program. This was open to all middle school and high school students."

Lakeside Lanes owner John Wing said the trend in bowling is family entertainment, and opening his facility to school events both facilitates this image and allows him to give back to the community.

"Usually at this time, I have open bowling. When people call, we tell them we have something else going on," said Wing. "I'm happy to do this. It's good for the kids."

Officer Stephanie Jones said Wing has been very accommodating and students who participated were given the cut rate price of $3 to bowl two games - shoe rental included. Additionally, pizza and pop were available for an extra $2.

"This was a great way for kids to spend the day off school," Jones said. "It turned into a family day with a lot of the parents deciding to bowl with their children."

Rose said another benefit to the After School Coalition is that it brings students from different elementary schools together before they enter high school.

"All the kids end up at Mundelein High School, so it's nice if they start to get to know each other now," he said. "When we have dances, we have about 500 kids show up. It's really great - this has really taken off."

Rose said the Mundelein After School Coalition is a spin-off of the Lake County After School Coalition, which he co-chairs with State Rep. Kathy Ryg, D-59th, of Vernon Hills.

"We found that everybody was involved with this - the library, the high school, parks, police. It just made sense to have our own group in our town," he said. "We are hoping to have a teen center (building) in the very near future."

Julie Murphy can be reached at jmurphy@pioneerlocal.com.