Posted November 1, 2019
“Arts Street is a nonprofit organization that helps kids and families,” Denver Online High School junior, Darrick DoBynes, said. The nonprofit breathes art into local communities, and DoBynes is an intern there.
“You might see me taking pictures around the neighborhood because we use the photos. All of the photos we use in our collages we took,” he said.
These collages will be used by Denver Councilwoman Jamie Torres to represent the different neighborhoods in District 3, Denver’s west side. Arts Street interns also helped at Buskerfest.
“We made three fish puppets and one big bear puppet,” he noted. “I was also in charge of making the banner for Buskerfest so I got to make the Buskerfest banner that they used on the big tent.”
Arts Street works with multiple organizations, one of which is Denver Public School’s CareerConnect program that connects students with internship opportunities in a variety of career fields.
“CareerConnect is trying to help you broaden your areas of the stuff you can do when you’re older and getting you prepared for being an adult, basically, in the working field,” DoBynes said.
“I feel like this is preparing me just because it’s teaching me new things in art and Adobe Photoshop that I’m definitely going to need because I’m a cosplayer,” wanting to eventually make a business out of selling his pieces.
DoBynes is also taking advantage of a new CareerConnect mentorship program where he is paired with a mentor from Amazon.
“I’m proud of all the work I’m putting in, because I’m doing a mentorship and an internship and schoolwork,” he noted.
Coming originally from another online program, DoBynes is taking full advantage of every opportunity Denver Online High School offers, expressing, “I just feel like Denver Online’s better for me because one, you don’t have to come in there all the time. That’s amazing. Two, they give field trips, you get internships, you can do all the other high school things you could do in a regular high school.” He continued, “And to me, there’s a lot less people, so I can work better on schoolwork and focus. And personally, I’ve gotten the best math help I could possibly get at Denver Online anywhere. Mrs. MacCormack is the Math Wizard, that’s why I call her the Math Wizard any time I come in.”