Arch Street Teen Center Christens “Greenwich Grind”

Dozens of teens turned out on Wednesday for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of The Greenwich Grind, a new coffee house on the third floor of Arch Street Teen Center.

The name “The Greenwich Grind” was the winning entry in the teen center’s “Name Our Coffee House” contest. The name was submitted by by three people, who were all honored by the opportunity to cut the ribbon.

Teen Center Director Kyle Silver explained the concept behind the coffee house. “The idea was we already have a successful weekend based of activities. This is more fore weeknights,” he said. And, so while the coffee house offers a place to hang out with friends, have a snack or do homework, Silver said there will always be a secondary activity like yoga and hip-hop dance, movie screenings or participation in a ping-pong club. All activities are free of charge for members. (Membership is open to all Greenwich students or residents in grades 7-12.)

With the opening of The Greenwich Grind will be open Wednesday and Thursdays from 3:00pm til 8:00pm, and on Fridays and Saturdays from 3:00pm, right up until the dance or evening event.

“Next week we’re screening a film from Sound Waters,” Silver said. “In May we’re having Caroline Jones perform live downstairs,” he added, pointing over the balcony to the main stage.

Caleb Osemobor, a 9th grader at Brunswick, said, “I was scrolling down the Instagram page one night and saw that they were looking for a name.” Caleb who came to the teen center more often when he was in 7th and 8th grade, said his visits are less frequent now that his workload has increased.

Along with Elyse Crimmins from Stanwich School, Caleb shared the honor of cutting the red ribbon for the coffee house. (Trinity Holmberg from Western Middle School also came up with the Greenwich Grind name.)

Silver said that there were 180 name entries in the contest. “We chose 10 of them to put out to a vote. Then we had a deadlock. Teen Bean and Greenwich Grind each had 412 votes.”

The Greenwich Grind was one of 10 finalists, including: The Teen Bean, Archduke Franz Ferdinand Café, Red Brick Café, Town Coffee, Coffee Casa, Lava Java, Grass Island Joe, Overarch Coffee House and The Daily Grind.

Members of the Arch Street Teen Center Board, which is comprised of high school students. Projects include getting word out about teen center events including weekend dances. Other events have been the Turkey Trot and the vigil for Emily Fedorko. There are also a community service opportunities for Teen Center board members, which include trips to a soup kitchen, and participation in a project for World Aids Day. Credit: Leslie Yager