Shoppingtown Mall: A Fun Place To Hang?

The days of teens hanging out in Shoppingtown Mall have returned in the past few months. The mall has added different sport areas such as a skateboarding area, a gymnastics center, a space for core health and fitness, a golfing range, boxing, fencing and Kung Fu. Syracuse Project 4 Our Teens (SPOT) has also opened in the Sears wing to give teenagers the opportunity to relax and do their homework.

The SPOT is a space the Jewish Community Center sponsors that offers educational, social, volunteer and entertainment events. For example it has held a coffeehouse and open mic night in the SPOT. It is a very casual area and includes ping- pong, foosball and pool tables. It also has televisions, couches to relax on, a performance stage, snack bars, computers and private study areas.

Teenagers are torn on the SPOT's potential. Freshman Nick Austin doesn't think that the SPOT is a good idea because he's able to watch television and play games at his house. Freshman Maria Caffarelli thinks that it is a good idea because it "will allow people to be able to study and hang out."

Junior McKinley Gray has also never been there but thinks, "it will be a good place to hang out with people."

Senior Zach Firestone has never heard about the SPOT, but thinks that it is a good idea because it "will let teens be able to hang out with each other."

"I think that it is cool that teenagers now have their own spot to hang out in at the mall," said sophomore Sequora Kemp who has heard about the SPOT.

According to the article at Syracuse.com, the SPOT is now only open for special events, but eventually it will be open for anyone to enter at anytime. There will be more open mic nights, travel trips and video game tournaments and it also provides college preparation courses and a class on filmmaking according to the article at Syracuse.com. There will be a membership fee to join and you have to be 12 and older in order to be able to use this center according to the article at Syracuse.com. For more information about the SPOT go to Syracuse.com and go under the entertainment and then events tab to find an article about what you can do there and events that will be taking place.

What do Jamesville-Dewitt High School students think of the sports area?

"I like the sports area because I take gymnastics there. It is a bigger area than where we used to practice before," said Gray.
"I think it is a good idea that they added all the sport areas because it will let people be able to exercise in the mall," said Caffarelli.

"I love the sports area because it is a lot of fun to go there," said Firestone

"I like it because you don't have to go to the Carousel Mall to get exercise and sport stuff. It will also be easier because Shoppingtown is closer," said Austin.

"I think that having the sport area is good because it attracts more kids and business," said Kemp.

Even though Shoppingtown Mall has added more sports areas, JDHS students still wonder if it is worth shopping at this mall.

"I think it is worth going there because if you need anything it is close by and there are also several stores," said Austin.

"It isn't worth going there because it isn't as good as Carousel and it doesn't have a lot of stores," said Gray.

"I like to go there because I like the Dick's sporting goods store and I get my haircuts there," said Firestone.

"It is worth going there because you don't have to have a lot of money to be able to shop there and you can watch the sport activities that are going on. It has turned out to be more of a hang out area now," said Kemp.