HP employees donated dancing, music features to Boys & Girls Club

By THERESA HOGUE


Gazette-Times reporter

Chandler David was all concentration. The 11-year-old’s eyes were riveted on the computer screen in front of him; his feet were a blur on the illuminated dance pad below, stomping onto squares on the pad that corresponded to the arrows on the screen to produce a frenzied dance. Beside him, Meaghan Greenough’s feet also were flying as the two hip-hopped their way through an increasingly complicated pattern of dance steps.

In fact, the whole Teen Center at the Boys & Girls Club of Corvallis was hopping Thursday afternoon as new games such as Dance Dance Revolution and Rock Band drew crowds around a series of television sets and computer screens. The new technology was donated by employees of Hewlett-Packard, some of whom were on hand to try out the games for themselves.

Greenough — the only adult to struggle through the dance steps — is responsible for getting the technology ball rolling. A hardware engineer with HP’s research and development lab, Greenough was taking a leadership class through the company when she was inspired to find a way to get her classmates excited about the community.

Greenough’s assignment was to give a presentation to the leadership class that would influence them in some way. But instead of making it a theoretical exercise, she said she decided to take the stakes a little higher.

“What if I could influence my group to donate money to donate a high definition DVD player to the Boys & Girls Club?” she said.

So, she conferred with Matt Fee, the director of the clubhouse, about how she might help. He told her the club could use a Playstation III, which comes with a DVD player. Greenough soon convinced not only her classmates but HP co-workers to donate money to buy new technology for the teen center. Her boss, manager Glen Hopkins, was able to match the donations with funds from the corporation.

In all, HP employees were able to donate a Nintendo Wii and new equipment for their Xbox 360, three new HP computers, flat-screen monitors and a large HD TV. In total, they donated more than $3,000 worth of equipment.

“It’s really exciting on a personal level to see them all really want to be here,” Greenough said, as students poured into the center and gathered around the new equipment Thursday.

The games all are aimed at getting kids on their feet and encouraging them to learn new skills. There are no blood-and-guts games, and any violence is mild and cartoon-like.

Fee, the clubhouse director, said things get worn out very quickly in the center, so the new infusion of equipment is much appreciated. The donation frees up funds that would have gone to new equipment to use in other areas of the club. It also makes the Teen Center more appealing and provides teens with constructive entertainment.

“We’re providing some of the things they’re used to in their own homes,” Fee said, but they’re also providing them in a social setting where multiple kids can play active games at once.

“Now we’re seeing them coming out of the Teen Center sweating,” Fee said.

Virginia Hassel, a 16-year-old senior at Crescent Valley High School, has been coming to the Boys & Girls Club since fourth grade. She recalls that in the old days, the Teen Center included a couple of pool tables and an old television. She said she’s hearing good things from her peers about the center.

“They really like it,” she said. “It’s a great place for them to hang out for free (during the summer).”

David, the champion Dance Dance Revolution player, said he loves coming to the Teen Center. It’s a lot better than staying home with his sisters, he said.

“All the people here, I pretty much know,” he said, waving his hand at the crowd.