Arts Service, Downtown Danbury

High school students hear about community service as soon as they join a club at Danbury High School or at Henry Abbott Technical School.

This club requires 30 hours before the end of school, that one 40 hours, and what about colleges? They want hundreds of hours. What separates one "A" student from another during college admissions? It could be community service.

"I just want to give back. I'm in a place where I can give back," said Tarif Brown, president of the Service Club at Escape to the Arts. Escape is a Main Street art school, and part of the Regional YMCA of Western Connecticut, where middle school students and others come for art classes and homework help after schools. Adults and others take classes at the school in the evenings and on weekends.

Starting in 2011, high school students provided some of that help.

On Tuesday, Brown was organizing helpers for volunteer work Saturday and Sunday. At the same time he was working on getting helpers for the weekend, other students, including Ke'shown Brown, 11, from Broadview, and Dhana Huaman, 13, of Rogers Park, and Herny Almonte, 11, Rogers Park, were scraping an old mural off the windows at REI Property Management on Main Street.

Their plan was to replace the old fall scene with a winter scene, and similar window murals are appearing on windows across downtown Danbury.

Andrea Gartner, executive director of CityCenter Danbury, the downtown promotions and tax district, is a huge fan, who said not only does it improve the look of Main Street, it is a way to help connect businesses with downtown art, and a way to help the children connect to Main Street and serve the community.

Jerucha Gutierrez, a sophomore at Danbury High School, said she helps teachers hand out art materials, and helps the kids when they need help on a project. She helps with homework. She started attending classes at Escape to the Arts in fifth grade and never stopped.

"They helped me out with homework when I came here, and they could catch me up if I didn't know what was going on," said Gutierrez, a DHS sophomore. "Now I'm helping the little kids."

"We always talked about having something to offer high school students," said Bill McNamara, teen and youth director at Escape to the Arts. Escape is offering YMCA Youth & Government, which brings together 300 YMCA students from across the state for a session in Hartford at the state legislature.

Another program is the Service Club, which gives high school students a chance to volunteer as an artist or for homework help or other activities.

A third program is called YMCA Achievers, which is designed to both help students raise their academic goals, but also work on job readiness skills and start work on the college application process.

Another program is Women Leaders Rising, designed for high school girls to help them learn leadership skills, build self confidence and learn about history and topics that effect women

"It's something else you can do without just hanging out at home," said Jennifer Quiroz, 15, a freshman at Danbury High School.