Intro to College
“Think College” will be the main topic at a Sylmar conference Saturday for families with kids as young as kindergarten age.
The event, organized annually by the College Success Partnership, an educators group headquartered at Maclay Middle School, features a wide selection of college-themed consciousness-raising activities, offered in English and Spanish.
“You have to start much earlier [than people think] to prepare kids for college,” said Dick Roberts, co-chair of the group.
To stimulate young kids to think about the value of school, Saturday morning workshops will be available at which kindergartners through fifth-graders can make “career hats” and learn about the educational requirements of various professions.
While some parents and educators might worry that emphasizing higher education to young kids is premature, organizers insist this is not about robbing children of their childhood. Rather, it is to broaden their and their parents’ notions about future careers.
“Some families think education means getting through the ninth grade and going to work,” said William Norland, president of Mission College, which is hosting the conference.
Norland stressed that families should be introducing kids to the idea of college early in life: “By the fifth grade, students should have really started to make up their minds about what their future is going to be.”
But many families, especially in disadvantaged communities, don’t consider the issue until it’s too late for a kid to get on the right track toward a high-paying, highly skilled career.
“If the home does not think college, the student won’t,” he said. It’s important to get the message to families that their children “can go to college if they start thinking about it [early]. And there are financial resources available.”
Paulina Nunes, whose family immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico in 1974, will give a presentation at 10:30 a.m., repeating at 11:30, entitled “My Road to College.”
This road began in seventh grade when she signed up for a college-readiness program at Maclay Middle School. She was motivated, she said, because “Since I was 6, I’ve wanted to be a doctor.” The program, she said, gave her what she needed to know. “Someone put it straight for me--about the requirements for getting into college.”
She followed the advice and, two weeks ago, she entered UCLA as a freshman biology student with a tuition scholarship and additional support from the Sylmar Women’s Club and the California Scholarship Federation.
The keynote speaker at the conference Saturday will be County Supervisor Gloria Molina (at 9:45 a.m.), preceded by welcoming remarks from City Councilman Richard Alarcon and Assemblyman Tony Cardenas (D-Sylmar).
At 10:30 a.m. there will be family workshop sessions on topics such as “College Education Begins at Home,” “Overview of Higher Education and Financial Planning” and “How Do I Find a Challenging Program for My Gifted Child,” all available in English or Spanish. A dozen information booths offering college and career information also will be available.
One of these booths, and two of the gifted-child presentations, will provide information on the Johns Hopkins Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth, an organization that provides supplementary educational programs for bright kids who may be in danger of dropping out of school.
From its Glendale office, the institute coordinates efforts to identify local kids from second through 12th grade who are not being educationally challenged at school and may be lacking teacher, parent or peer encouragement.
The institute’s educational programs in California take place at Loyola Marymount University, Stanford University and UC Santa Cruz. Scholarships are available. Saturday, the institute’s local representatives Donald Watson and Nathaniel Goetz will answer questions (or log on www.jhu.edu/gifted).
BE THERE
Third Annual College Success Partnership Conference, for families with children in grades K-12 to learn about college careers, Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. at Mission College, 13356 Eldridge Ave., Sylmar. Admission, including a breakfast and lunch, is free. For event schedule and free bus transportation, call (818) 896-6266 (in advance) or (818) 364-7840 (day of the conference).
For information on Johns Hopkins University Institute for Academic Achievement of Youth program for students in grades 2-12, call (818) 500-9034.
