A whole space, built for teenagers. It’s yours.
Free classes that actually matter — how to make friends anywhere, how money does grow on trees, public speaking, auto shop, starting a business, first aid — and the list keeps going. Then Open Shop, where the whole place is yours: RC cars, 3D printers, gaming, the gym, the studio, the lounge — plus free dinner and a snack, every night. If we haven’t got the thing you’re into, tell us. We’ll probably go and get it.
What is Life Shop?
We made a whole space, and then we gave it to you.
Life Shop is at the Boys & Girls Club of Utah County in Provo, and everything here is free. Classes cover what school skips — how money actually works, how to get ready for a job, how to talk to people, how to fix the thing that broke.
After class, the rest of the building opens up for Open Shop. 3D printers, RC cars and the driving simulators. Nerf wars, Xbox and Nintendo Switch. Board games, card games and the podcast studio. Basketball, pickleball and open gym. And a lounge built for you to settle into — somewhere safe and comfortable to hang out, meet people, and be around others who are figuring the same things out. Dinner is free every night, and so is the snack.
All of it is here for one reason: so you can chase whatever you’re into and walk out knowing more, and having done more, than when you walked in. If we don’t have it, say so — we’ll probably go and get it.
The biggest Life Shop yet opens Monday, August 24 inside the brand-new Provo clubhouse at the Boys & Girls Club of Utah County — part of the grand opening of the building itself. We hope it’s the first of many. More about Life Shop →
Classes
Auto shop, public speaking, money, filmmaking, first aid, podcasting. Free, and you pick the ones you want.
Open Shop
3D printers, RC cars, Nerf wars, driving simulators, video and board games, billiards, ping pong, and a podcast studio. Come and learn something, then it’s all yours.
Tournament night
Poker, blackjack, Mario Kart, bingo, minute to win it, cornhole. Free to enter, free to eat, and nobody has to be good at any of it.
Mobile events
The skate park, crazy carts and RC track all travel. We bring the whole thing to schools, fundraisers and community days.
Monday to Thursday
Turn up when you want. There is always something on.
Two groups share the week — junior high earlier in the afternoon, high school through the evening. Whichever one is yours, come and eat, learn something, play something and stay as long as you like. No register, no sign-up, and no order you have to do things in.
Dinner and a snack
A full meal and a snack, free, every day you are here. Nothing to explain and nothing to sign — just come and eat.
A class
One subject, one session. Auto shop, public speaking, budgeting, building a business, graphic design, making a movie, photo editing, building a website, playing the ukulele, how to make friends anywhere. You pick.
An activity
A basketball court and an open field: pickleball, volleyball, frisbee golf, lawn games, nine square in the air, cornhole, RC car racing, ping pong — or open gym. Everybody plays, nobody sits out.
Open Shop
The building is yours. RC cars, 3D printers, board games, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, the podcast studio, the lounge. Mostly it is where people hang out.
Eat, learn something you actually want to know, play something, hang out with your friends. That’s the day — and you go home able to do things you couldn’t do that morning.
Friday nights
Friday night is tournament night.
The whole building turns into tournaments. Poker tables going, a Mario Kart bracket on the wall, cornhole in the corner, food coming out — and a room full of people who’ll know your name by the end of the night. Free to enter, free to eat, no team needed, and nobody checking whether you’re any good. Bring your friends. Or turn up on your own and leave with some.
Poker & blackjack
Full tables, real chips, nothing on the line but bragging rights. Nobody is playing for money and everybody is playing to win.
Mario Kart
Bracket on the wall, four players a race, and the whole room watching the last lap.
Bingo & minute to win it
The ones nobody can be bad at. Walk in thirty seconds before it starts and you’re in.
Cornhole
Played in pairs, so you end up on a team with someone you haven’t met yet. That is the whole point.
None of it feels like school, because it isn’t. It’s a Friday night in a place that’s actually yours — hang out, eat, talk trash over a card table, win something, lose something, and go home having had a genuinely good time.
First time? Come to the side door on the south side of the Boys & Girls Club of Utah County on Olympic Boulevard, the one with the Life Shop sign. A parent registers you once, free — here’s the link to send them.
Who it’s for
You, if you’re 13 to 18.
It costs nothing. There’s no audition and no expectation that you already know how to do any of it.
One thing to sort first: a parent or guardian registers you through the Boys & Girls Club of Utah County and signs the permission form. Once, and it takes minutes.
Foundational skills
Everything at Life Shop is built around six skills we think matter most:
- Interpersonal
- Time management
- Goal setting
- Self-awareness
- Critical thinking
- Resilience
See what actually happens here.
Photos from tournaments, classes and whatever got built that week.
Have a suggestion?
What should we teach next?
If there’s something you want to learn and it isn’t on the list, tell us. That’s genuinely how classes get added.
Email claire.brown@bgcutah.org with the idea. Mention whether you’re a teen or a parent, and send as many as you want in one message.