**Questions for a High Schooler?** (Pittsburgh, Allentown: hotel, houses, theatre)

[BethlehemBoy]

Hey guys, Names Joe/Joseph I go to freedom high school in Bethlehem figured not to many high school kids are on a site like this.. so if you have any questions feel free to ask me.. What kids do around these areas? Where we hang out.. What the high schools are like. .Sports, academics , bands and whatever else your heart desires... I know ALOT for a teenager.. For you parents out there.. Sometimes you guys are mislead.. Especially about all that goes on in schools and what kids do now adays..!

[jimmyrocks]

I went to Freedom over 10 years ago, I assume kids still do the same things. We never really did much in high school other than going to movies, hanging out at our friends' houses, or driving around aimlessly. There were some decent bike jumps and trails that people carved out, and we'd sometimes go to perkins after football games.

So what do the kids do these days?

[toobusytoday]

My son is in High School at Southern Lehigh. He goes to the movies, football games in season, his activity at the High School, the LAN party place in Allentown, Dorney a few times in the summer, hangs out at the Promenade shops with his girlfriend but most of his time is spent playing computer games. What else is there to do?

[loose cannon]

Take the neccessary college course. Do your best. If you do not like math or English just get a C and get it overwith. As long as there is one area you are good at put your strength into those subjects. Apply to colleges. Get accepted by a College out of the area. Succeed in College and never come back. I wish I would have done the same 20 some years ago but I was misguided. There's nothing here worth staying for. Get the education and credentials and get out!

[toobusytoday]

Gosh LC, I'm hoping my kids migrate back.... We've lived in four other states (I have personally moved at least 10 times) and love Coopersburg. Maybe you just need to get out of Bethlehem. It's no fun living where you are unhappy.

[SteelCityRising]

Well, Loose Cannon, there's always SCRANTON!

[Idioteque]

I go to the charter high for performing arts in bethlehem, we're right in the city itself, a pretty short walk to main st.

Generally if we have to stay for rehearsal and have a few hours to kill we go hang out - shop a little bit-there's a lot of really cool new stores on the North Side, eat at Johnny's Bagels, if it's nice out we'll get some food and eat by the creek down behind Hotel Bethlehem by the tannery.

We hang at at the LV mall, promenade, movies, pretty much the normal thing. Dorney in the summer and fall, Musikfest, of course, and because we're 15-20 minutes from NJ there's a whole other array of options there. The nice thing is that there are ALOT of things in the LV that really cater to art. You just have to look a little bit, Touchstone and Insomniak(nazareth) are two excellent theatre companies, PA ballet, Banana Factory, Wired, Moravian - lots of venues that give people(and often teenagers and kids) an oppurtunity to see some very good local art.

Not to mention;
90 minutes to NY
90 minutes to Philly
40 minutes to New Hope
..and I never really timed the drive to Princeton because I always fell asleep, but that's not far either =)
Not to mention that we're not at all far from a bunch of other cities, Baltimore, DC, I mean, Pittsburgh is another story, but hey, can't win 'em all.


But I kind of have to agree with Loose Cannon, I think the area is nice..but I've lived here long enough, and I'm getting to an age where just naturally, I want to travel and see new things. I do not, by any means hate where I live-not at all, I just want to expand my horizons a little bit =).

[toobusytoday]

I'm all for seeing the world. My older kids went to or are going to college out of state and I expect my youngest will also. My oldest child has been on four other continents and lived in China for a year. My oldest son just did a study abroad in England. But, when they are done with all the traveling, I hope they choose to come back to say, an hour or two from the Lehigh Valley. We've never lived closer then two hours from our parents since we married many years ago, but I think it would be a nice experience.

My apologies for going off topic a bit...

Another venue for kids are to keep an eye on the college websites. With 6 colleges in the area, there are often bands that come in that are not advertised to the general public but anyone can attend.