New Brunswick's New Rec Leader Creating Inviting Space for City's Kids

The newest superintendent of recreation in the city grew up spending his summer afternoons with friends at the Teen Center. It was a safe space where Ivan Adorno and his buddies spent countless hours trying to one-up each other on Pac-Man and other games.

Now known formally as the Hub Recreation Center on Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Adorno wants to continue to shape it into a place that brings today’s kids as much fun as it brought him during his carefree days of youth.

“We would play video games, hang out and be with peers and have a place that we knew was safe. We could go and our parents were OK with us being there,” said Adorno, who last month took over the position held by Ed Spencer for many years. “Now, that we’re in this post-COVID world, I want to bring that spirit back to the center, where we want kids to feel like this is a perfect place to hang out and parents know they’re safe when they’re here with us.”

Once the Rec Center gets the equipment it has ordered, Adorno and his staff are going to organize FIFA Soccer and John Madden Football video game tournaments.

He is also planning to organize eight-ball and nine-ball billiard tournaments, just like the ones they had when he was a kid.

And even if Adorno also envisions other changes geared more to academics than arcade games – such as a more robust computer lab for students to complete their homework – the focus is on making it a destination for kids across the city.

“We think things like that will welcome kids in the building, get them engaged with the process and give them activities to do,” Adorno said. “The core group of kids who show up every day, they are enjoying it. They understand that this is their place. I watch them – they don’t even realize I can watch them – but they’re cleaning up after themselves. They know this is their building.”

It may be the kids’ building, but there are several ways for adults to connect with the Rec Center, from joining the fitness center to signing up for the spring softball league to volunteering to coach a youth sport. The easiest way to find out more is to follow the department’s Instagram account (@Newbrunswickrecreation).

And the Rec Department’s work isn’t all centered on the Rec Center, which also includes a fitness center, dance studio, sound studio, soccer arena, and more. 

Adorno said he’s excited about some changes coming to the community programming run through the Recreation Department.

The department is gearing up for the spring youth baseball season, and then it will be for the first time hosting a youth wrestling program.

“It will be like a club program to introduce kids to wrestling,” Adorno said. “What we’re hoping to accomplish is to mirror a lot of the things that are happening in the public schools in terms of sports programming, so we can be a feeder system into those programs. So a good part of what we’re doing is gearing a lot of our sports programming, our club offerings and clinics to introduce kids to some sports they don’t often get introduced to until later in life.”

The Adorno family’s roots run deep in the city. His mom, Carmen, was one of the first teachers ever hired by the Puerto Rican Action Board and taught countless kids over the decades. His brother, Carlos, is a patrolman in the New Brunswick Police Department.

Ivan got a part-time job with the city at 16, then got a full-time job as an assistant site facilitator with the Youth Services System at 19. He worked in Mayor Jim Cahill’s office before leaving to lead the Rec Department. He remains a member of the New Brunswick Board of Education.

He’s hoping to carry on the legacy of service – especially to the city’s kids - created by two of his mentors and the previous two directors: Spencer and Mike Blackwell.

“It’s about meeting the kids where they’re at right now,” Adorno said. “Post-COVID, things are a little bit different for the kids, especially teenagers. So, we want to have the right personnel in place and the right programming in place, so the kids understand this is theirs, this is for them and we’re going to do everything possible to support what they want.”

Story By: Chuck O'Donnell
Photo By: Ivan Adorno