OGDEN - Gray thundercloudsloomed outside, but before this week inside Heritage Elementary, the climate was sunshine and rainbows.
A 12 or so children dipped their brushes into paint-filled cups and created scenes from their futures, their presents or their imaginations.
All works are bound for presentation in a Weber State University gallery space in the Shepherd Union Building.
"I'm not an artist," said Ethan Magee, 8, Ogden, busily covering his whole paper in a race of different watercolors. "I don't love what I'm going to be yet. I used to need to be a mechanic, because I am near at fixing things, like chairs."
Ryan Olson, 8, Ogden, painted a rainbow, with a pool and fish below.
"I wish to play baseball," he said. "You get to practice throwing and catching, and your home comes to see you play."
The kids were partly of a YMCA program aimed at helping inner-city children envision their futures. Several Weber State University student volunteers were on hand to facilitate the kids picture their dreams.
"We're only having fun with creativity," said Michelle Hall, 20, service vice chair of Weber State's Student Association.
"It helps the children think about what they need to do. Last week, we did pottery, and future sentence is photography.
"And in May, we will be inviting the kids and their parents to campus for an artists' reception to see their influence on campus, where they can also see people who are following their dreams and reaching for their goals."
Seleste Sanchez was the site manager for the YMCA program that brought the primary school students and the university students together. It's an organization that benefits both sides, she said.
"It's a big confidence booster for the kids. They do their best work, knowing their families leave see it and will be proud of them," Sanchez said.
"And Weber State always brings different student volunteers. The kids ask the students what they are studying, and they start thinking about what they might wish to be when they get up."
Reflecting a precise plan of future usage in paintings was optional, however, and young students painted pictures of octopus ballets, dolphins, flowers, trucks and buildings - most topped by rainbows under yellow suns.
"I wish to be a cop," said Caden Norris, 5, Ogden. "They help people, and they are heroes."
"I'm going to be an artist," Hannah Norris, 7 and Caden's big sister, said while busily painting herself standing by a panel truck she said was wide of candy and toys.
"It's actually fun. I like picking colors and viewing my pictures to everyone."
WSU volunteer Aaron Espinoza, 20, from Logan, said he enjoyed helping with the paint party.
"It feels right to serve out," the physical therapy major said. "This is a big way for the children to make fun, and it brings me joy to see them having fun, just being kids."
Hall agreed.
"This is taking me back to my childhood and thought about all the things I wanted to do," said Hall, a political skill and psychology double major.
"I'm so focussed on my classes, it's decent to go backward and think all my dreams."
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