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ST. PETERSBURG — Sixteen-year-old Davonte Cocroft and his friend Ameen Nurul-Haqq, 15, sat in the recording studio at the Royal Theater and Arts Academy at 1011 22nd St. S practicing their latest beat, Snappin.'
"Fire it up," Davonte told Ameen, who turned to the mixing console and started singing to a beat his friend had mixed himself.
The pair, along with several friends, take music classes after school at the Royal Theater, one of 11 Boys and Girls Clubs of the Suncoast locations in Pinellas County.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the organization, starting with its first location in Pinellas Park.
A celebration will be held Saturday at the Sirata Beach Resort at St. Pete Beach. The theme "Be Groovy" is in honor of the 1960s, when area Boys and Girls Clubs first took off.
"The purpose of Boys and Girls Club is development of young people so that they can achieve their best role in society," said Carl Lavender, executive director. "That hasn't changed. It's the same today and 50 years ago.
"We take kids out of difficult circumstances and put them in better circumstances so that they can succeed in life."
Boys and Girls Clubs focus on five core development areas: education, health, leadership, arts and athletics. Suncoast clubs serve mainly lower-income areas and provide after-school activities, tutoring and counseling for students through age 17.
The Royal Theater club is an academy-style model that focuses on instruction in leadership and the arts. It provides classes in graphic design, painting and drawing, music and all forms of dance. Students typically spend one "power hour" after school doing homework and receiving academic tutoring from the staff. The rest of the afternoon is filled with drama, music and dance lessons.
"Choice, that's what Boys and Girls Club does. We give them choices," said Herbert Murphy, director of the Royal Theater club. "They can go to the computer lab, they can do arts and crafts, performance. Nobody's telling them, 'You have to do this'. "
His staff, like that of other Boys and Girls Clubs in the area, comprises club alumni who serve as role models for younger members. They provide counseling and individualized attention to teens facing difficulty at school or at home.
"We've brought kids back from the brink of disaster … parents on drugs, domestic violence, a family situation where they feel like an outcast," Murphy said. "And then they get here, and we're that mirror to show them their potential."
One of the theater's successes is 17-year-old Shanoah Washington, a resident of Childs Park. Before she discovered the Midtown Boys and Girls Clubs four years ago, Shanoah was living in a group home for teens and often caused trouble in school.
After a tour, she began coming in every day and took poetry classes in particular. There she met her poetry and spoken word mentors, local poets P.J. Crosby and George Carty. With their help, Shanoah and six other students formed the Poetic Colla'ge Youth Society and have performed at poetry and spoken word festivals in the U.S. Virgin Islands and throughout Florida — all funded by the Royal Theater Boys and Girls Clubs.
"Being here, it fostered a way for me to be more conversational than confrontational," Shanoah said. "I learned an activity that can better me in the future."
Saturday's milestone celebration will raise money for club outings and scholarships for students whose families cannot afford membership fees. Scholarships will also be granted to the club's high school seniors starting college in the fall.
Ticket and sponsorship information can be found on the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Suncoast Web site, bgcsuncoast.org.
Tania Karas can be reached at (727) 893-8707 or tkaras@sptimes.com.
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