Closeup: President Visits McGaw YMCA MetaMedia Center

Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro and Executive Vice President Nim Chinniah recently toured the innovative MetaMedia teen space at the McGaw YMCA in Evanston, a University-community partnership between Northwestern, McGaw and Y.O.U. The newly-created MetaMedia center features a variety of programs, including FUSE, a video game-inspired model for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts/design and math) exploration and learning, created by Kemi Jona and Reed Stevens, professors at Northwestern's School of Education and Social Policy.

"Kids this age spend a lot of time consuming media, but we want to move them across the boundary to making things," said Stevens. "The goal is to go from hanging out, to messing around to geeking out."