Southern Highlands Boys & Girls Club scheduled to open

Madison Mazur won't be staying home with a baby sitter this summer.

She plans to be at the new Southern Highlands Boys & Girls Club, 10900 Southern Highlands Parkway, instead.

"I think it's better because I'm with people my age," said Madison, 11.

She spent Tuesday night exploring the facility with her mom, Elizabeth Mazur, and brother, 6-year-old Matthew, during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The Southern Highlands club is scheduled to open Monday and will have an open house from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. All Southern Nevadans, not just Southern Highlands residents, are invited to tour the 28,000-square-foot club, the largest of the five stand-alone locations of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Henderson.

The Southern Highlands Charitable Foundation raised more than $6 million to build the new facility, and Olympia Cos. donated the land.

"I'm a single mom working full time," Elizabeth Mazur said. "Right now, having a baby sitter, it's killing me."

Since she moved to the area six years ago, Mazur said, she has been shuttling her children to different parts of the valley for various sports, which really adds up.

"Time, money and gas will be saved," she said.

Matthew was eager to see the hardwood floor of the gymnasium where he will be playing basketball, his favorite sport. Other sports will be available, including soccer and volleyball.

Matthew didn't spend much time in the art room, where youngsters can paint, sculpt, draw, dance and perform theater.

Each week will culminate with a Friday barbecue and movie screening in the club's back plaza.

During the day, youngsters can match wits using the giant chessboard on the plaza, with 2-foot-tall game pieces.

Once school starts in August, Matthew, Madison and their 12-year-old sister, Marissa, will spend afternoons in the club's learning center, where tutoring services will be available. It'll be a quiet place to study and give them access to computers.

The club will be open from 1:30 to
7 p.m., with extended hours for teens.

The teen lounge, which has a separate computer lab, pingpong table, video game consoles and an 84-inch TV, was Matthew's favorite room in the building. He and Madison spent most of their time playing table tennis with their mom.

Matthew will have to wait seven years before he can use it again. After finding out, the boy told his mom, "I want to be a teen."

Annual club memberships are $20 for children ages 5-12 and $10 for teens ages 13-18. The new club's summer camp will be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. It's $89 a week for ages 5-12, $25 for ages 13-15 and free for ages 16-18.

For more information, visit bgchenderson.org or call 534-0504.

Contact View education reporter Jeff Mosier at jmosier@viewnews.com or 224-5524.