New Hall at Eureka's Wyman Center to be Dedicated

Information for this article was provided by the Wyman Center in Eureka.

staffers in will honor the legacy of its former board chairman—the late S. Lee Kling—with the opening of a new hall devoted to teen leadership and service that bears his name. Kling was a resident of Westwood.

A ceremony to christen the new hall will be held Tuesday at the center, beginning at 6 p.m.

The new S. Lee Kling Hall of Teen Leadership and Service on Wyman’s Eureka campus provides a 4,500-square-foot venue dedicated to learning and technology, and providing teens with a place to work with the tools they will need to be successful in today’s world. 

Teens who attend Wyman’s summer residency programs will use the hall during lessons in leadership, civics and politics, business and service. They also will hold meetings in Kling Hall where teens will learn how to use communications skills, public speaking, planning and problem solving, team building and organizing to achieve their goals.

“What a fortunate day it was when this friend of presidents and prime ministers chose to be a friend to Wyman’s young people,” said Dave Hilliard, Wyman’s CEO.

“Because of S. Lee Kling’s leadership and generosity, Wyman’s teens are becoming leaders and succeeding in life themselves.”

Kling was a well-known political force in Missouri who understood the importance of developing and advancing teens’ understanding of the political process. His life in business, public affairs and philanthropy will be featured in displays inside the new hall. The center will help teens from disadvantaged circumstances develop as leaders among their peers and start on the path to lifetime success.

Additionally, Kling Hall will be used throughout the year by more than 10,000 children and adults who participate in Wyman’s leadership, environmental education, retreat and conference programs for schools, faith congregations and community groups.

For more than 110 years, Wyman has been working in the St. Louis community to positively impact the lives of young people from disadvantaged circumstances.

Today, Wyman touches the lives of more than 1,900 local teens through their Teen Leadership Program (TLP) and Teen Outreach Program (TOP), helping them to navigate the divide between the world they know and the future they desire. The organization’s goal is to reach 5,000 local teens by 2014. Wyman’s TOP is cited as a best practice in teen development and is replicated by organizations that work with teens all across the United States.

More information is available online at their website.