‘Colors of Change’
Student artists create murals at Manchester High School West

Manchester High School West Mural Project facilitator Amber Nicole Cannan and MyTurn Executive Director Allison Joseph; Sheila Vargas, a representative from The Nature Conservancy in Durham; Artist Richard Haynes; facilitators Zeynab Osman; Jane Bama; Artist Jozimar Matimano; Kimball Jenkins Executive Director Julianne Gadoury; and Kimball Jenkins Lead Curator and Programming Director Yasamin Safarzadeh gather for a group photo at Manchester High School West. Interns include: Judith Nsimire, Clemence Masambeta, Mars LaFond, Sabrina Andino, John Reyes, Jufe Karabundika, James Ogunsuyi, Camila Tavarez, Diago C. Jiminez, Ava Conlon, Sofia, Sofia K. Condodemetraky, Sylvan Dustan, Janet Rodolf and Yvette Howell.
When Manchester High School West (a.k.a. West High School) students and faculty returned to the classroom in Manchester this fall, they were greeted by several, vibrant murals that signify the need to nurture biodiversity in the Granite State and the world.
Everywhere they looked around the main entrance were more than 2,000 square feet of murals that were created this summer by student interns with the MyTurn program and Kimball Jenkins in Concord. The murals were unveiled to the public on Aug. 17.

Yvette Howell stands in front of her mural that includes native species to New Hampshire like the red salamander and an eastern oyster.
“I feel very strongly about climate change, because the wildfires have heavily affected people I know because of the poor air quality. Since I’m a graduate of 2023, which is also the 100th year of West High School being opened, I decided to incorporate both elements into one piece,” reflects Janet Rosado, 17, about her piece.
West High School student Sabrina Andino, 16, is also proud of what she created. “My painting shows a bird getting pushed out of the city to represent how birds are affected by pollution in urban areas.”
Central High student Camila Tavarez, 17, wanted to share some beauty from her native land. “I painted flowers because it is tropical and exotic like where I come from, that being Puerto Rico.”
Kimball Jenkins partnered with MyTurn to give several Manchester area teens summer internships to work on the murals.

Diago Champagne Jimenez created this amazing mural of bugs up close on a birch tree at West High School.
West High School holds so much history in its halls. It’s a labyrinth of murals, awards, recognitions and labors of love. When Kimball Jenkins, an art and community center in Concord, was invited into the school, it was important that they spend time with West High School faculty and students in order to truly understand how to execute their annual summer internship project in partnership with MyTurn — a youth and young adult wraparound services organization, which offers comprehensive career services and academic support.
Reada Shehabeldin, an intern of MyTurn Executive Director Allison Joseph, states that he enjoys working with MyTurn because “There’s no gatekeeping. Allison and Jocelyn are right here with us every day. It’s comfortable: the environment, the people, everything.”
Oftentimes individuals referred to MyTurn include youth and young adults experiencing homelessness, those who are pregnant or have had children, people who are court involved, foster youth, and those with incarcerated parents. These partnership programs arose to center and amplify underrepresented voices.
Richella Simard, a major facilitator in this internship, explains the program’s goal is to “create a space people want to come back to. These kids feel pressures from all over the place, product-based classes aren’t succeeding with our populations. We need our students to feel seen. Give them a reason to come back. When they trust you, they will want to be involved in the world you’re creating.”
The annual internship endeavors to teach participants to “engage in a curriculum that gives hands-on experience in project management, community development, budgeting, event management and the creation of a public artwork.”
The breadth of this internship is so broad and immersive that both GearUp and The Nature Conservancy stepped up to help provide a more enriching program. Through these two organizations, Kimball Jenkins and MyTurn were able to take the 15 interns off-site to the University of New Hampshire’s Jackson Estuarine Laboratory. They were also able to sail a Portsmouth Gundalow to a nature preserve in the Great Bay Estuary and later visited the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester.
Within each of these seemingly disparate endeavors, a line was drawn encapsulating the theme of this year’s internship. How does rehabilitating riparian zones benefit our local biome? Why is art conservation important? And most importantly: How do you take these elements and make them into a painting?
The first meeting was held at Manchester West High School’s cafeteria with artist Richard Haynes, Simard, lead faculty liaison, KJ, Sheila Vargas of The Nature Conservancy, and MyTurn.
In this concept phase, it was hard to keep people at the table due to the fact that the courtyard shone through the windows like an irresistible canvas. Could the team partner with Manchester Grows, a local organization dedicated to providing fresh produce in our community, in order to rehabilitate the green space with pollinators, herbs and vegetables? How fantastic could the endeavor be if the team utilized pillars, fountains, garden beds and brick facades in order to take students outside of these walls and into the biomes of our local ecology?
If you have a moment to attend one of the many after-school events Simard hosts at West High School, including Multicultural Fashion Shows, Pride, and Eid, take time to visit this courtyard. What you will see is a composition of 15 dedicated interns weaving their hopes, dreams and observations throughout this now-rehabilitated space.
There are segments of poetry, local flora and fauna, multitudinous variations of insects, and even native oysters, all drawing inspiration from the program’s off-site trips and lessons. The process to get these pieces finished was weeks of excavation into source material. The process included renderings, edits and re-renderings, preliminary drafts, final drafts, underdrawings beneath painted layers, mentorship from artists like Jozimar Matimano and Amber Nicole Cannan, and hours of negotiating students’ content and vision.
At this summer’s reception, individuals from all sectors of the economy were present: mayors, aldermen, civil servants, engineers, musicians and, most importantly, the interns’ beaming faces. Sandra Almonte of Don Quijote’s Restaurant catered the event. The interns chose a string trio led by Nicholas So to play renditions of popular music.
The event was vibrating with the energies of all the right stuff coming together at exactly the right time. When Janet Rosado and Yvette Howell spoke about the murals project, they noted it’s significance: “It’s funny to think that if we don’t act together to preserve and protect our environment now, these murals will be all that’s left of them in the future.”
This article is featured in the winter 2023 issue of 603 Diversity.
603 Diversity’s mission is to educate readers of all backgrounds about the exciting accomplishments and cultural contributions of the state’s diverse communities, as well as the challenges faced and support needed by those communities to continue to grow and thrive in the Granite State.