Countywide : College Prep for Kindergartners

Though she has a dozen years to wait, 6-year-old Ariana Behravan is already excited about going to college so she can study to be zookeeper.

A kindergartner at Arroyo Vista Elementary School in Rancho Santa Margarita, Ariana visited Saddleback College on Friday during KinderCaminata, which brings young children to campuses to start them thinking about the future.

Ariana is mapping out her strategy already: “I’m going to go to college for sure,” she declared.

Seven Orange County community college campuses hosted more than 10,000 kindergarten students Friday--a fivefold increase from the 2,000 children who visited Rancho Santiago College in 1994 for the first KinderCaminata.

The name is a combination of the German word for “children” and Spanish for “promenade.”

Gahal Kernahan, a writer and retired consultant who worked with the California Teachers Assn., founded the program with help from Los Amigos of Orange County, a citizens advocacy group.

The idea, Kernahan said, was to expose children, especially those from low-income families, to college.

“We hope they’ll remember this event,” said Kernahan, 70. “We are using them as messengers to get into homes and stress to parents that students need to stay in school, that education is important.”

The message got through to Michel Zupancic, 6, who was among 1,400 youngsters at Saddleback College. “I want to be a picture artist,” said Michel, a student at Del Obispo Elementary School in San Juan Capistrano. “College is important because you learn stuff.”

He and other candidates for Saddleback’s Class of 2012 sported hats that read, “Si, se puede”--Spanish for “Yes, it’s possible”--and proclaimed themselves future teachers, doctors and police officers after exploring booths with displays on computers, first aid and patrol cars.

Fullerton College, Cypress College, Golden West College, Irvine Valley College and the Santa Ana and Orange campuses of Rancho Santiago also took part in this year’s program.