Colorful community service

Students in Clarke High School’s Art Honor Society contributed their original designs to a coloring book for hospitalized children at Nassau University Medical Center.

Julie Mansmann/Herald

The teens’ original designs, with space, fantasy and underwater themes, are being compiled, and the finished book will be distributed in March.

Julie Mansmann/Herald

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Throughout their time at W.T. Clarke High School, art has been an important part of seniors Marissa Flaherty’s and Rikki Hernandez’s lives. Their shared love of painting, drawing, design and general creative exploration even led them to seek leadership positions in the school’s chapter of the National Art Honor Society.

Flaherty, the group’s president, said that one of the reasons she loves the arts is that they can serve as a sort of escape from reality — especially for people in trying circumstances. That’s why her organization decided to create a coloring book, filled with original designs by 24 Clarke students, for children hospitalized at Nassau University Medical Center and their families.

“We’re sharing something that we love and passing it on to them,” Flaherty said. “It’ll be a nice way for them to just relax and have fun.”

The National Art Honor Society was established by the National Art Education Association in 1978 for teens in grades 10 through 12 for “the purpose of inspiring and recognizing those students who have shown an outstanding ability in art,” according to the organization’s website. Community service projects are integral to its mission, and Jane Pawlowski, the faculty adviser for Clarke’s chapter, said her students are always looking for ways to give creative gifts to people in need.

The 24 students in the chapter this academic year decided to create a coloring book for children in need for the third time. Pawlowski explained that past groups had created collections of black and white drawings for the Ronald McDonald House and NUMC.