Third-Graders Off to College : Pacoima: Students sell candy bars to raise money for a field trip today to UC Santa Barbara.

Third-grade teacher Dalia Messinger asked her students a traditional question and got an unnerving answer.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” she queried her 32 students at Pacoima Elementary School, most of whom live across the street in a public housing project.

“Go on welfare like my mom,” piped up 10-year-old Miguel, amid a chorus of “fireman” and “policeman.”

Horrified by the boy’s limited vision, Messinger set out on what would become a difficult crusade to send her mostly Spanish-speaking charges to college--for a day.

“They need to see beyond their little world,” she said. “When I first told them they could go to college and study lots of different things, they just gave me a quizzical look.”

But Messinger, 26, who is in her first year of teaching, persevered. She got her alma mater, UC Santa Barbara, to send her dozens of glossy brochures for the children with pictures of the campus tucked in the hills above long, white-sand beaches.

“I told them that even although they can’t afford the $10,987 it costs for tuition, room and board, there are scholarships out there, especially for minorities,” Messinger said.

But first they would have to cross a more immediate financial hurdle.

The school wouldn’t pay for the field trip there because visiting a college is not on a list of locations approved by the federal and state governments, which supply the funds.

“It doesn’t make sense, but they can visit an airport or a bakery, but not a college,” Principal Larry Gonzales said.

Messinger, who grew up in Northridge and lives in Valencia, got offers from relatives and friends willing to pick up the $450 tab. But she had the kids sell chocolate bars and Popsicles instead, reasoning that they would value the trip more if they invested some time and effort in making it happen.

Today, 64 children from the school are scheduled to take the two-hour journey north to Santa Barbara. Tuesday, Messinger discussed the trip with her excited students, asking them once again what they want to be when they grow up.

She turned once more to Miguel.

“I want to be a zookeeper,” he said.

“I feel like I have a lot of influence,” Messinger said. “Anything I can do to change their outlook counts.”