2024 was another epic year for the Log Cabin. Enormous thanks to all of the King County Teams and Community Partners* that helped make the WC Teen Program possible!

Twenty-four of the top highlights (plus two bonus highlights) as selected by Teen Program staff and participants:

1. REUNION with STARFIRE The Log Cabin kicked off 2024 by showing up with something to prove in the Starfire Indoor Rec League! Starfire has graciously sponsored the WCTP Soccer Teams to play in the Indoor Leagues since 2007 with both players and coaches anxious to return after a pandemic related hiatus between 2020-2023. Players of all levels and abilities (beginners always welcome) can catch up with the WCTP soccer club on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5-7pm starting on January 7th.

2. SKYWAY REC AIDES Team Skyway knocked it out in 2024 with 50+ Rec programs, Distribution events, Community mtgs, and Library appearances. Highlights included the Annual Skyway Safety Fair, STEM programs at the Skyway Library, Juneteenth Celebration at Campbell Hill, Skyway Community Center Survey Outreach in the W Hill neighborhood, Arts and Crafts at Skyway Park, and Distribution events at Skyway Fire Dept.

3. AT THE LOG CABIN PRODUCTIONS Still going strong, the WCTP youtube studio not only created new videos in 2024 but also assisted with projects produced by Parks, DNRP and King County at large. Be the first to catch all the new Teen Program vids by liking and subscribing over on the WCTP Youtube channel. Also not to miss, be sure to check out DNRP’s Parks Levy video (Directed by Ken Kristensen) featuring several of the Log Cabin teens and staff with Production Assistant support from Big AL!

4. RETURN of the JEDI (aka KENDO) The 44th Annual Highline Kendo Kai Challenge Cup Kendo Tournament returned to the Log Cabin on March 23rd! Sensei Jeff Marsten and King County Parks have been offering Kendo classes at the Cabin since 1976. Sensei Elizabeth Marsten currently instructs beginning classes every Monday with advanced classes scheduled on some Saturdays. Scholarships available for teens interested in studying Kendo!

5. WC SPRING CLEAN Enormous thanks to the @whitecenter_cda for once again including the Log Cabin in this beloved neighborhood event! Over the course of two spring clean days, the teen volunteers successfully prepped 14 garden beds for planting! Additional shoutouts to WCTP Master Gardener Jody, the entire Sunset Crew, the Parks Greenhouse Crew, Parks Crafts Crew, and KC Parks Patrol for ongoing support with the garden!

6. COMMUNITY DROP IN HOUR Our amazing Facility Coordinators Vincent, Daniel, Bradley and Sarah assisted with 364 days of Community Drop in Hr on the multi-purpose field at Steve Cox Memorial Park. Community members are welcome to join family time drop in every night of the week from 7-8pm!

7. CULTURAL CONNECTION NIGHT Over seventy-five teens contributed their visual and performing art talents to the newly minted WCTP culture celebration on Friday, March 22nd from 5-7pm at Steve Cox Memorial Park (1321 SW 102^nd St 98146.)  The WCTP hosted an evening of Cultural Performances along with a Visual Art Gallery featuring the artwork of local artists ages 12-19.  In addition, attendees were encouraged to wear cultural attire to participate in the inaugural Log Cabin Cultural Fashion Show.  Additional details (and photos) available in the Cultural Connection Night Recap blog post.

8. SKYWAY & WC LIBRARY PARTNERSHIP Sending extreme gratitude to our Librarian Friends! The WC Library hosted a Family Fun Foam Party and distributed over 500 free books at WCTP programs and events. And our Skyway Librarians welcomed the WCTP to dozens of West Hill reading events and STEM programs. We were honored to meet so many families out at both the park and the LIBRARY! More details HERE for 2025 Skyway Library Dates!

9. HEALTHCARE JOB LAUNCH Our sincere thanks to all of the employers and training programs that presented at the 2024 Job Launch featuring Pathways to working in Healthcare! Participating Programs, Speakers, and Employers included IHAP, Multicare, Career Work$, Walgreens, and an Insider Panel of professionals working from AMR and Career Work$ currently working in Healthcare. Partner Agencies included King County (Parks, Public Health, and Superior Court), White Center Teen Program, the YWCA of Greenbridge, Workforce Development Council of Seattle King County, and Communities of Opportunity. In person viewing parties were hosted at the White Center Teen Program at Steve Cox Memorial Park and at the Skyway Library.

10. WCTP LEARNING GARDEN Enormous thanks to all of the King County crews and teams that supported the Learning Garden for another fantastic harvest! We see you Sunset Crew, Greenhouse Program, S Utility Crew, and Crafts crew! Staff and teens are already plotting (see what we did there?) the 2025 crops. And if by chance you’re curious about the history of the garden, have we got a blog post for you!

11. CAMPING at TOLT Teens and staff were thrilled to wrap up the Summer season with the annual camping trip to King County Parks own Tolt McDonald Park! The camping tradition began with a Washington State Parks NCLI grant and continues to this day with support from the KCP Regional Scheduling Office, KCP Tolt Crew, and the Highly Hated Foundation.

12. BURNT TOAST is back in the Cabin! Thanks to the efforts of Jody and the King County Safety Office (and funded through a Small Capital Projects grant) the ventilation in the kitchen was improved to the point to relaunch the ever popular Burnt Toast Cooking Class. Chef Frank (pictured) reintroduced all the traditional favorite lessons along with a few specialty dinners that received rave reviews. Look for at least one more familiar Chef to return to the kitchen in 2025. (Spoiler Alert, it’s Chef Mark!)

13. PEACE N THE HOOD JOB FAIR and BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT Over thirty employers and resource providers came out to support the 2024 job fair and basketball tournament.  Shoutout to co-sponsors Workforce Development Council, Southwest Youth and Family Services, and the YWCA of Greenbridge. Highlights included 75+ teens finding jobs as well as the first ever Girls bracket at the basketball tournament! Catch up on the history of PNTH with Vae, Allan, and Rasheed’s blog post here then stay tuned for 2025 event dates! 

14. VOLLEYBALL was big in 2024! From wctp staff vs teen games to a Glow in the Dark Volleyball event, and from Volleyball offered in the gym at 3pm every Friday to outdoor Volleyball on the SCMP sport courts daily . . . the Log Cabin was all about the volleyball. Look for Indoor volleyball on the gym schedule on both Thursdays and Fridays in Winter 2025.

15. TWENTY REC AIDES HIRED It was another grand year for the Recreation Aide Program with thirty+ Aides employed before end of year, and twenty teens hired into their first time jobs! Enormous thanks to the KCP HR Team for all the support! Recruitments for the 2025 season are scheduled in the spring.

16. SCMP SOCCER TOURNAMENT After a five-year hiatus, the highly popular Aztec Soccer Tourney returned to Steve Cox Memorial Park! Eternal thanks to Soccer Coaches Abraham, Miriam and Nico with an additional shoutout to the Somali Health Board teams! Stay tuned for the 2025 Tournament Schedule.

17. FAMILY NIGHT OUT In 2024, the Under the Sea Family Night Out sent participants exploring through the park looking for treasure, swimming through a sea of crafts, and launching into a KCLS sponsored foam party. Additional shoutouts to North Highline Fire Department, King County Parks Patrol, the WC KCSO Storefront, The KCP Mobile Engagement Team, and KCAC. You can catch the full recap HERE. Brought to you by the WCTP Rec Aides, Night Out is always the first Tuesday in August. (Pro Tip – save the date for Tuesday, Aug 5th!)

18. PARTNERSHIP and OUTREACH OPPORTUNITIES The WCTP was thrilled to partner with numerous internal and external partners including Highline School District, Renton School District, King County Public Health, The WC Foodbank, the White Center CDA, the YES Foundation of WC, KCLS, WLRD Stormwater, KC METRO, Eazy Duz It Car Club, and 4Culture.

19. THREE SUMMER SACK LUNCH SITES SSL returned to all THREE King County Park sites in 2024. Enormous thanks to the Des Moines Food Bank for supplying lunches at the WC sites! Additional thanks to all the families that came out to support the program at Dick Thurnau Memorial Park, Skyway Park, and Steve Cox Memorial Park. Catch the full story HERE.

20. CERAMICS Brought to you by the Rec Aides, the Ceramics weekly class quickly became the hottest trending structure at the Cabin. Come check out a class for yourself every Thursday at 4pm!

21. WHITE CENTER PARKS MAPS The Rec Aides were thrilled in 2024 to partner with the Parks Comms Team on colorful, multi lingual maps featuring all the WC Parks. More details on the maps including links to all four languages can be found here. Stay tuned for a Skyway Park map coming up in 2025!

22. SKYWAY PARK OLYMPICS Nearly impossible to pick the most popular Rec Aide event from 2024 at Skyway Park, but the Summer Olympics did show up on every list. Skyway youth competed for medals in both traditional (basketball and volleyball) and not so traditional (uno relay and arts & crafts) Olympic Sports! The WCTP Social Media Team even made it out to cover the highlights:

23. TEEN VOLUNTEERS Over 100 teens volunteered 600+ hrs to help bring recreational programs to their communities. Popular teen volunteer events included helping in the Learning Garden, running games at community events, and crafting decorations for Teen Program celebrations. Stay tuned for the 2025 schedule of Teen Volunteer Events!

24. SPOOKY TOWN HALLOWEEN CARNIVAL Spooky Town 2024 brought the largest Halloween Carnival attendance to date as well as the premiere of TWO new Spooky Town Tours!  Enormous thanks to all of the partners that supported the event including the KCP Sunset Crew, KCP Crafts Crew, WC Foodbank, KCP Greenhouse Program, Dub Sea Fish Sticks, Highly Hated Foundation, White Center CDA, King County Participatory Budget Team, and the friends of Steve Cox Memorial Park. Negotiations are already underway for the next Halloween event on Saturday, Oct 25th.

25. WINTERFEST When local neighborhood favorite Eazy Duz it Car Club approached the Log Cabin to sound out a partnership to help distribute free toys to local families . . . the Rec Aides answered with 12 tables of crafts, games, gingerbread house making, and giveaways. Enormous thanks to Eazy Duz It, Friends of SCMP and all the families that turned out to celebrate Winter.

26. WCTP STAFF and TEENS And while the building at 1321 goes by many names (WC Fieldhouse, WC Community Center, and the Log Cabin) . . . at the heart of the program are the 50+ dedicated staff and 1400+ amazing teens. We can’t wait to see what they get up to in 2025!

Finally, enormous gratitude to the entire King County Parks Sunset Crew. The Sunset Team keeps the parks of Skyway and WC clean, safe, and open 365 days/year. Every program we run is made possible because of the support from Team Sunset.

* In addition, the WCTP sends thanks to the following King County Teams and Community Partners for ongoing support year-round:

• Highline School District
• Renton School District
• KCLS – Burien Branch
• KCLS – Greenbridge Branch
• KCLS – Skyway Branch
• KCLS – WC Branch
• KCSO – Skyway Storefront
• KCSO – WC Storefront
• N Highline Fire Dept
• Skyway Fire Dept
• 4culture
• ANEW
• Career Work$
• Communities of Opportunity
• Cultures United
• Des Moines Food Bank
• Dub Sea Fish Sticks
• Easy Duz it Car Club
• EHS East African Club
• Friends of the WCTP
• Highline Kendo Kai
• Highly Hated Foundation
• IHAP
• Khmer Amarak Performing Arts
• Left Coast Screen Printing
• Multicare
• NIAfest
• NHUAC
• The PAK
• Renton Innovation Zone Partnership
• Run to Win Sports Camps
• Seattle Kraken & One Roof Foundation
• Silent Task Force
• Skyway Coalition
• Skyway Outdoor Cinema
• Skyway Resource Center
• Somali Health Board
• Southwest Youth and Family Services
• Starfire Sports
• Urban League
• Walgreens
• West Hill Community Association
• White Center Blog
• White Center CDA
• White Center Foodbank
• White Center Now
• WC/N Highline Coalition for Drug Free Youth
• YES Foundation of WC
• YWCA at Greenbridge
• KCP Capital Improvement Program Team
• KCP Central Operations Team
• KCP Community Engagement Team
• KCP Crafts Crew
• KCP Cultural Resources Program
• KCP Director’s Office / Skyway CC Team
• KCP Equity and Social Justice Team
• KCP Finance, Budget and Planning Team
• KCP Human Resources Team
• KCP Greenhouse Program
• KCP Marymoor Business Unit
• KCP Marymoor Crew
• KCP Mobile Engagement Team
• KCP Parks Patrol
• KCP Playground Program
• KCP Recreation, Partnership, and Property Management Section
• KCP Regional Scheduling
• KCP Safety Program
• KCP Small Capital Projects Team
• KCP South Utility Crew
• KCP Special Events Team
• KCP Sunset Crew
• KCP Tolt Crew
• KCP Volunteer Program and YCC
• King County TV
• King County Department of Local Services
• King County DNRP Comms Team
• King County DNRP Stormwater
• King County Executive Climate Office – JumpStart
• King County Housing Authority
• King County IT
• King County Participatory Budget Team
• King County Public Health
• King County Safety Office
• King County Superior Court
• King County Worksource & Youthsource
• UKC Business Alliance
• Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center
• Workforce Development Council of Seattle King County