Fullerton College Hosts 21st Annual KinderCaminata
Fullerton College is preparing once again to welcome nearly 2,000 kindergartners to its campus on Friday, April 8, for the 21st annual KinderCaminata. The event, which focuses on instilling the importance of a college education and exposing children to various career options, will feature more than 40 lively demonstrations and hands-on learning experiences for kindergarten classes from Anaheim City, Fullerton, and La Habra City school districts.
“KinderCaminata provides children with a positive emotional connection and a vision in their minds of what college is – they learn college is for everyone,” said this year’s KinderCaminata coordinator Dr. Coleen Maldonado.
The annual event has achieved its mission the last 21 years by adopting Cesar Chavez’s “Sí, Se Puede” (Yes you can; it is possible) motto. In many cases, KinderCaminata can be the first time a child steps onto a college campus. It serves as the first opportunity to get children interested in college and helps families have a greater sense of accessibility to higher education.
“When a child has no one in their family who has gone to college and has never stepped foot on a college campus, then college is just a word,” Maldonado said. “Stepping on a college campus can make the difference between college remaining a word or it becoming a vision and action.”
In addition to the event itself, children are participating in a week of classroom lessons and activities to learn about Cesar Chavez and what his motto can mean for their own lives, college, and careers, Maldonado said. The event will also provide children and their families an opportunity to learn more about the differences between K-12 education, colleges and universities.
This year’s event has the support of more than 500 faculty, staff, and student volunteers assisting at more than 40 career stations set up across the Fullerton College campus in the main quad, classrooms, labs, and the athletic fields. The career stations are a fun and interactive way to expose children to the plethora of careers and jobs beyond what is typically taught at home. Career stations will include themes such as “Holy Criminology, Batman!” sponsored by the Administration of Justice Department, “Discovering Square Numbers,” hosted by Math Department, and an activity titled “It’s All About the Brain” facilitated by the Psychology Department and Psychology Club where children will use Play-Doh to make model brains.
The event will run from 8:45 a.m. to 12 p.m. For more information visit http://socsci.fullcoll.edu/kindercaminata.
