IN THE CLASSROOM:

As the semester opened Monday for the Westside Costa Mesa community center Save Our Youth, Newport-Mesa students trickled in to work on their favorite programs — a couple were already on the machinery at the gym, and more than a dozen were already studying for classes after the holiday break.

One of the places with the most action, however, was the arts and music room, as a handful of students were already playing around with drums and guitars or honing their deejay skills. But those skills aren’t just a draw for the teens at the center; they get shown off at back-to-school dances and other events, and youths learn to put their different skills together in larger productions.

“I have a few deejays on my roster,” Eduardo Iniesta said. “Everything goes hand in hand here, from the dance classes to the creative writing workshop, where some of the older kids can work on lyrics. We have a couple of songs we’re working on now, and somehow we’ll get all those rock skills in there, as well, ” Iniesta said, pointing at some teens playing guitar and drums.

Estancia High School student Alex Ayala waited for some time to spin records as another youth mixed a Jay-Z vocal. After taking the center’s mixing class this school year, he’s been working on it ever since. The biggest gig of his career so far was a youth center basketball game, but the chance to learn more is one of the reasons he keeps coming back.

“I basically come here to deejay,” he said. “Well, for that and for the gym.”

That’s part of the way Save Our Youth works, Director Trevor Murphy said — the wider the range of interests, the more people who find a reason to come to the community center.

“That room draws a lot of kids who may not be into sports or even academics, but have a lot of creative interests they want to practice more,” he said.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at [email protected].