Celyn Rogers and friend Caleb Rufener have discovered a new place to hang out and have fun after school in Saline.

Rufener, 11, and Rogers, 13, are taking advantage of the Fifth Corner, Saline's new teen center. The two and their friend Connor Hibbard have become frequent visitors at the center since it started having regular hours Nov. 15.

“They have pretty cool games and stuff. People should come,” Rogers said, as he jockeyed his football team unsuccessfully against Rufener’s team on a Playstation 2.

But right now, the Fifth Corner is a rather well-kept secret. “These three are the regulars so far,” said program director Marcus Flood. “I wasn’t sure what to expect or how many would show up, but the ones that have come said they’ll keep coming back, which is a good thing,” Flood said.

Earlier in the week, the Fifth Corner had six middle school students show up, Flood said. But so far, no high school students have used the teen center.

The teen center is open on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 2:45 to 6:30 p.m., and students pay $3 to use it. The Fifth Corner is located at 211 Willis Road in a former Baptist church. It rents the space from Saline Community Church, which has an agreement to use the building on Sundays. Volunteers renovated the building this summer.

Rufener and Rogers are happy with their new hangout, but they’d like to see it get some computers. “And more gaming systems,” Rufener said.

“And flat-screen TVs,” Rogers said.

The designated computer room doesn’t have any computers yet. “Hopefully it will have four desktop computers that they can be on for a while, do homework, surf the Internet,” Flood said.

Rogers likes the study room, which is next to the computer room. “The last 30 minutes, I do my homework,” he said. “It’s really quiet and stuff.”

Not everything is set in place yet, but that’s according to plan, said David Rhoads, who’s on the board of directors for the teen center. He figured it would take some time to get Saline teens accustomed to the space. The teen center had a party and a well-attended concert earlier in the fall to get teens to check out the building. As more teens use it, more activities will be available, Rhoads said.

Rhoads would also like the games moved upstairs, so that the downstairs area is a café and study hangout. As he surveyed the basement of the teen center, he noted that the center might need to add some activities that are more geared toward girls.

“We’ve only had one girl show up so far,” Flood said.

One thing the teen center has fully established is a set of safety measures. Students check in and out with an electronic fingerprint pad, so adults know exactly who is there, Flood said.

The center also has a student board with nine members planning events. Flood said they’re working on sponsoring a 5K race in the winter, which would end at the Fifth Corner.

To keep up with the teen center and its future events, check out its Facebook page.

Tara Cavanaugh is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. For more Saline stories, visit our Saline page.