Most buildings.

The Spot, a relatively unremarkable structure tucked between the school's cafeteria and sports fields, is brimming with teenagers and alive with activity. Teens sit six abreast on a pair of wide, plush couches and 10 or 12 more bodies lie sprawled on the floor, munching large slices of pizza, their eyes glued to a big-screen television playing an Eddie Murphy flick. Four huddled youths sit in the corner, intent on a video game. Amid the chaos, an impromptu ping-pong tournament has broken out, and six or eight contestants shuttle between it and the pool table, where a 12-year-old is running through opponents like a pre-pubescent Minnesota Fats.

Almaden Valley had for years needed a place teens considered fun and parents thought safe enough to spend idle after-school hours. In June 2001, The Spot became the area's first after-school center to offer teens a safe, supervised environment, in an effort to reduce the increasing number of youths left unattended or roaming the streets until parents came home from work.

In a little more than two years, it's already made a huge impression on the 80 or more teens a day it serves and their parents.

"I would go here every day if I could," says 16-year-old Jason O'Toole.

"I love it," says Shaina Knepler-Foss, a 15-year-old sophomore at Leland High School. "It's a place out of school to hang out with our friends. We don't have to go home to an empty house."

The ambiance of The Spot on this day is not unlike that of many after-school programs but for one important point. The activities, the movies, even the décor of The Spot have been decided upon by the young people who use it. The snack bar, offering a wide array of hot food, candy and beverages, is managed and staffed by youths.

Adult supervisors are always on hand, but you're more likely to find them in a duel at the ping-pong table than behind a desk or on the phone.

"They have all sorts of activities for my kids. They have gone camping with them, paint-balling with them," says Maritta O'Toole, Jason's mom. "They really, really care about the children. They protect them, they are involved, they don't just sit in the office."

The entire organization of The Spot is not just provided for youth. For all intents and purposes it's directed by the youths themselves.

Bertina Kwan, 13, an eighth grader at Bret Harte, is one of 25 teens on The Spot's advisory board. Every month she and the board discuss what programs, activities, outings, and food they and the other users want. Every three months, the board consults with a team of adults, who set about making sure those wishes become reality.

"We make most of the major decisions about The Spot. ... We decide on things like events—whether we want a drug-free night, or a teen night, or a band night," Kwan says. "We never had an idea that was so far-fetched they wouldn't be willing to try it. But, say, if it's something they couldn't accommodate, they'd try to make it more do-able."

Kiersten McCormick-Manuel, a trained recreation specialist with the San Jose Park, Recreation and Neighborhood Services department who oversees management of The Spot, says a recent band night that needed a bit of fine-tuning shows how the organization works with teens. The advisory council suggested the event, but when doors opened to more than 500 young people, the council realized they'd made a slight planning misjudgment.

"It was open to all ages," McCormick-Manuel, 32, explains. "We had a very mixed group. We had the older teenagers who usually drive to Oakland [to see live shows], and thought, 'Great, it's so close,' and we had the junior-highers who thought it was a dance."

Despite the fact that expectations differed between the younger and older attendees, the night went smoothly, she said.

"We had no fights. We did have one small problem with alcohol, but it was taken care of immediately by parents. Even to think it was going to be a band night, it has a negative connotation to it, but it was an overall good event. It just needs to be tweaked," she says.

Even with a host of recreational activities, schoolwork isn't given short shrift at The Spot. The facility also provides quiet space for students to study and use computers after school. Civic-minded pursuits also play a large role in The Spot's daily life. When it's not free time in the expansive rumpus room, teens are corralling others to mentor toddlers, organize fundraisers for local charities or work with the elderly, all at the behest of and organized by the youth advisory council.

Next month, for instance, The Spot's teens, through their Teens Teaching Toddlers program, will be paired with families with toddlers. Shortly before Thanksgiving, the teens will devote a day to babysit their assigned toddler so parents can have some time to themselves to shop and run errands in preparation for the holiday.

Though recreation and community-service activities are free to any child age 11 to 17 years old, The Spot also offers special events, classes, camps, and trips for a small fee.

"It varies. Mainly we do the [activities] that have been proven a success," says McCormick-Manuel. "We'll have CPR, first aid and babysitting training because it was requested by the youth council in their recommendations."

This simple idea—let teenagers decide what activities they want and provide a safe, healthy environment to do them—is the cornerstone principle on which The Spot was built and is what keeps young people coming back.

This user-directed philosophy doesn't mean it's a free-for-all at The Spot. The program has limits. Teens are not allowed to roam other parts of Bret Harte's campus. They're not allowed to wander out of sight of a supervisor, and any activity the users want has to be not only devised by teens, but also implemented and worked toward by the teens themselves.

On this day, Bret Harte's principal comes to visit McCormick-Manuel, advising her that one of the regulars, a member of a group of skateboarders, has lost privileges to use The Spot.

"We've been trying to get [these skateboarders] together," McCormick-Manuel explains, saying the skateboard enthusiasts have shown interest in getting The Spot to create a boarding activity, but have shown no interest in doing the work themselves.

Because of the wide range of ages of the teens at The Spot vary, McCormick-Manuel says the program is closely monitored so that older youths present a good model for younger teens.

"We're making sure they're integrating well, that there's not a separation between age groups, that they mingle well, that no one is taken advantage of," she says. "When we see high schoolers come in, we tell them and have them understand the guidelines, and we tell them if you don't follow them, you'll be asked to leave."

The diverse mix of ages has resulted in a bonus for younger teens—when they hit high school, they have someone they know to look up to and show them the ropes.

"A lot of these kids, they used to go [to Bret Harte] and go to high school now, and they actually follow me and ask me for help because they're freshmen this year," Jason O'Toole explains.

Until The Spot opened in June 2001, Almaden Valley had no after-school program for youth. That didn't mean it wasn't needed.

McCormick-Manuel says the community has always needed a facility like The Spot, and the activities keep teens coming in the door. But as San Jose's economy changed in the last few years, the need has grown more desperate.

"We used to be open in the mornings, from 7 to 9:30 [a.m.]. Then we'd be open after school until 7 [p.m.]. We had kids the whole 12 hours that we were here," says McCormick-Manuel. "Parents are working all they can. We have kids whose parents are being laid off, we have kids who parents aren't around, and it's both parents."

San Jose Vice Mayor Pat Dando, who raised her children in Almaden Valley, spent nearly two decades thinking about how much a center like The Spot was needed in her community.

"There just wasn't anything to do out in Almaden, and there wasn't a place where kids could go to be together with their friends," Dando says. "From a parent's perspective, not only wasn't there a place to go, there wasn't a safe place. There was always a mall or a movie theater, but that is not what I call a safe place."

The need became more critical as time passed. As housing costs and the cost of raising children rose, the number of families in which both parents worked swelled. As divorce rates rose, more children were growing up in single-parent households.

The result: More young people were finding themselves alone after school without parental supervision. Empty homes and idle time often led to trouble.

Sergeant Todd Martin of the San Jose Police Department's juvenile crime division is all too familiar with what can happen when teens are left unsupervised after school. He says that youth centers like The Spot play an important role in controlling youth crime in the area, and despite its suburban atmosphere, Almaden Valley is in no way insulated from the problems they see with idle downtown youth.

"Kids [in Almaden Valley] do have a situation with drugs—marijuana mostly—in that area," he said. "Some of the more urban things are limited out there. There is some gang activity, but it's very limited."

Youth centers, he says, are not only a way to give teens fewer opportunities to get into trouble, it keeps them from being victims.

"We're going to keep some kids out of trouble; keep them out of the creek, keep them out of the shopping center. It keeps them from being victimized," he explains. "The young girls won't be victimized by the young boys. They won't be coerced into doing something they shouldn't."

Moreover, he says, it gives "peace of mind for the parents."

Getting The Spot off the ground took a lot more than just idle ideas and an awareness of need. Dando, who represents District 10 on San Jose's city council, said a decision was made to save a portion of the district's annual discretionary recreation and park funds to pay for the center's construction—almost $100,000 a year for five years.

Once initial funding was secured, Dando consulted with school-district officials and builders and undertook the arduous task of coordinating multiple government agencies so construction of The Spot would coincide with the renovation of Bret Harte Middle School, cutting significant cost of the development.

The program is currently funded through the city, costing only about $5,000 a year to maintain. Staff salaries are covered through the city's recreation and park department budget.

But before the first shovelful of earth had been turned for the facility, the city made sure that The Spot's end users—the teenagers of Almaden Valley—were on board. A panel of teens was assembled to advise adults on what they wanted from a community center and after-school program. Their input went far beyond just asking what they wanted to do and the activities they'd like to see. They counseled adults on every aspect of The Spot's construction, from its design to its furnishings and wallpaper.

"The first few months of planning, I tried to be real clear to them that this was their project, and if they thought it was important, then I needed their help," Dando says. "I said we could put it together, but it wouldn't be cool if we decided for them. They took a real leap of faith that I was giving them the straight scoop. I said, 'You can decide the size, how it is decorated, the program. This will be your place.'"

How The Spot keeps in touch with teens and their needs has made all the difference for Jason O'Toole.

"I remember when I was in kindergarten, at the day care, it would be, like, 'Today, we're going to do this. Today, we're going to do that.' And half the time it was boring stuff. But here you have cool stuff," Jason says. "It's pretty much the exact opposite of that, but it's still a safe environment."

Jason and his brother Phillip have been coming to The Spot regularly since shortly after its opening day, when Jason was in eighth grade and Phillip attended Bret Harte in sixth grade. The O'Tooles used to live within walking distance of The Spot. But the family recently moved several miles away, and the rigors of high-school homework keep the brothers from coming as much as they'd like. Still, they make sure their mom drops them off at The Spot on Fridays so they can see their friends from the old neighborhood. They say it's a reward for keeping up on schoolwork.

"Their homework was done," Marietta O'Toole says, "and they were, "Mom, can we go back?'"

Although Dando's children are now grown, she's pleased that her brainchild has finally come to pass and is being received with such enthusiasm by the youth of Almaden Valley. She hopes The Spot will continue to thrive as a hub of activity for teens in the area.

"When I was growing up in Texas, we had a teen center, and that was such an important part of my life growing up, I hoped my children would have access. It was not to be, but maybe now it will be for my grandkids," she says.