ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — “Outwork, Outlearn, Outplay” gleams on the wall at the front of the Orange Beach Teen Center.

The center is focused on reaching out to youth and creating a safe social environment for kids in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores to gather.

With a game room full of games, like Xbox 360 and Wii, there is plenty of entertainment to be found.

Kids can spend their afternoon shooting pool, foosball and air hockey. Or they can head to the computer lab to work on school homework or projects.

Teen program coordinator Mike McIntire said that the center has already been a success in its first year .

“This is to keep kids from roaming the streets with idle hands,” McIntire said.

“It gives the kids somewhere to go and look forward to.”

He said that was the plan when the idea of the center arose last year.

“We were not seeing very many teens at the rec center,” Angela Bateman, recreation coordinator, said. “We felt that was an untapped segment of the population that we weren’t serving.”

The center opened in February with a Super Bowl party blowout and has been busy ever since.

McIntire said on average in an after-school crowd there will be 30 to 50 kids at the center, which is located behind the Orange Beach Community Center on Canal Road.

Although the center was planned to be open to 12- to 18-year-olds, 11-year-olds are welcome to participate from 3:30 to 5 p.m. McIntire said that keeps the older kids separated from the younger ones.

Along with the day- to-day activities offered, like family cook-outs and pool tournaments every Tuesday and Thursday, there are additional programs to take the kids on trips. Field trips to the Naval Air Station, movies and Gulf Shores High School football games are regular happenings.

This summer the Hang Teen program took kids to the beach where they received surf lessons from a professional surfer.

Members of the police and fire departments frequent the center so the kids build a connection with them.

Recently added was the Aztec Learning System software that allows kids to get extra instruction in subjects they are facing at school. There are tutoring sessions every Tuesday and Thursday to coincide with the new system.

A database of subjects from kindergarten to college are accessible at the click of a mouse. The software also offers GED preparation and trade school training.

“It is a benefit to the community as a whole because adults will be able to use the software in the future,” Bateman said.

The $100,000 software was received through a grant from the U.S. Justice Department that was used to open the doors to the center as well.

There are future plans to construct a skate park outside of the center.

Parents can arrange for their child to ride the school bus from Gulf Shores schools to the teen center.

Membership for an Orange Beach child is free and $5 for Gulf Shores residents.

Volunteers are always welcomed and donations are always needed.

More information about the center, like hours of operation, can be found on their MySpace page, myspace.com/obteencenter.