For a Day, Pupils Are Big Men on Campus

University President Richard Rush looked out at the sea of young faces and asked the students if they were ready for their first day of college.

Never mind that the youngsters staring back at him weren’t old enough to drive, let alone sign up for college classes. Or that for many, the bus ride to Cal State Channel Islands near Camarillo led to their first steps on a college campus.

Rush was taking a long-range view. And he wanted to make sure the fourth- and fifth-graders were thinking long term as well.

“Did you know this university was created for you?” Rush asked the participants of a new program aimed at planting the seeds for a college education. “All of us really are here to serve you.”

Such early awareness programs have become increasingly popular on university campuses as educators seek to prod youngsters to think early and often about higher learning.

Many are aimed at youngsters from poor and minority communities, where the resources for college planning may be in short supply. Some programs start driving home the message as early as kindergarten, pushing students and their parents to focus years ahead of time on what it takes to get into college and graduate.

“When you put students and their families on college campuses, it expands their scope of experience,” said Ashley De Lucca, communications director for North Hollywood-based Project GRAD. The early outreach effort uses campus visits, a six-week college institute and other programs to raise college awareness.

“College starts to become a real possibility,” De Lucca said, “something that can really happen for them.”

That was the idea behind the “I’m Going to College” program at Cal State Channel Islands.

Launched in 1990 at a San Jose elementary school, the project has become a mainstay at college campuses across California. Mesa Union School District Supt. Sharon McClain drummed up support for the local program, landing an $8,500 grant from the School-to-Career office of the county Superintendent of Schools.

The grant allowed more than 200 youngsters from small school districts in Somis and Santa Paula to participate, starting last fall when university representatives began visiting classrooms to talk about the college experience.

“The value for students, particularly at this age, is that it helps them set some long-range goals,” said McClain, who first tapped the program at Cal State San Marcos in the mid-1990s when she was principal of an Escondido elementary school.

“To me, it’s just the perfect time to work with kids,” she said. “If you wait until they get into junior high, there can be too many other distractions.”

After months of preparation and buildup, the campus visit to Channel Islands came last month in a burst of schoolkid energy and a blur of powder-blue shirts emblazoned with the motto, “Get Fired Up! I’m Going to College.”

With the students jammed into a large conference hall, university administrators did their best to support the message.

“We are so pleased that you are here,” Channel Islands Vice President Greg Sawyer told the youngsters after leading them through a “First Day of College” cheer. “We want you to be part of us because we are a part of you.”

The campus visit was meant to simulate the first day of college. So the nervous youngsters trekked off to class -- some to chemistry, others to history or psychology or science.

Brianna Cervantez and Keri Corey were among the first to take a stab at computer art and animation, sitting behind a high-powered computer to try to make a cartoon bird take flight.

The students, fourth-graders at Mesa School in Somis, said they are thinking about becoming teachers. And both said they would consider attending Channel Islands if the fledgling campus launches athletic programs.

“Tell [the president] if it has a softball team, we’ll come,” Keri said.

Nine-year-old Lexi Banuelos was more certain about her college choice. After attending classes and touring the campus, the Briggs Elementary School fourth-grader said she plans to attend Channel Islands for sure.

“It was fantastic,” she said of her first-day experience. “They have a lot of stuff I can learn about. Plus they will have a big building here for science, and I love science.”

Briggs school, near Santa Paula, sent 95 students to the program, many of them from low-income families. Fourth-grade teacher Keri Collier said she believes the experience is one that will shape the students the rest of their lives.

“A lot of kids don’t get the message that they can go to college or they will go to college,” Collier said. “By doing this now, we’re planting the seed and providing the opportunity and exposure to realize the dream.”