FAIRMONT - Every Thursday morning, the smell of pancakes wafts through the industrial wing of Fairmont Area High School.
Scores of students begin filtering in around 7:15 and then come in waves right up until the bell rings.
They are coming to eat and talk with Campus Life staff and volunteers about a variety of topics ranging from the weekly curriculum to just what is going on in their lives.
"There are a lot of different things [students want to talk about]," said Campus Life director Shelly Larsen. "It could be a test or finals week, or things aren't going so well at home, or maybe it is a good things. This is a time when they can come in and unload and have really good conversation."
In February, volunteers are leading discussions about love and dating, and students are sharing everything from how it affects parental relationships when one is working all the time, to what the right age is to start dating.
Campus Life, a program of Youth for Christ, strives to keep the environment friendly and encouraging, but students can talk about whatever they have on their minds.
Volunteer Rick Johnson said the group has talked about heavy topics, such as suicide and bullying, and the students open up and share.
Tenth-grader Deion Diaz has been getting up early on Thursdays since the breakfast club started last year.
"I love it," he said. "It is a great place to come and get something to eat. It is great to talk to these guys."
Diaz said his mom drives him to school early to get his pancakes, and his brother usually comes too.
When he first started coming, there were only a handful of students each week, but their numbers keep growing. This year, as many as 76 students have come through the doors for food and fellowship.
For Diaz, it wasn't the pancakes that brought him back week after week. He wanted to talk about God.
"Taking about Jesus kind of brought me here," he said. "I haven't been to church [for a long time]. This is my church. It is fun. We don't just sit there for two hours."
Larsen said the students know the staff and volunteers are from a Christian organization, but they don't force religion on anyone.
"Breakfast club is non-Christian friendly," she said, adding that she wants kids to know there are adults who care.
A large number of the students are boys - so many that Campus Life actively recruits male volunteers for table discussion.
Larsen leads a similar group at Granada-Huntley-East Chain High School, a group that has been meeting under the Campus Life banner for three years. The school had a Bible study group led by a youth pastor prior to that.
Larsen said the group is allowed to use the public school classroom before instructional hours, and it reserves the room through Community Education and Recreation, but no one has come to them with concerns about a religious organization using a room at the school.
"I think the community appreciates the fact that however we can, we encourage kids," Larsen said.
For students who want to go more in depth on a curriculum topic, or just want to talk more, Youth For Christ hosts Campus Life Canteen on Thursday afternoons at its Downtown Plaza location, called The Lighthouse. It is a time for ninth- through 12th-graders to have the place to themselves.
"The Lighthouse is a place [students] go to stay away from drugs and all that stuff," Diaz said. "They are really great people here."
