When you think of a college campus, you think of 18-24 year-olds with the returning adult student mixed in here and there, but on September 28, 2009, there were 50 visiting kindergarteners from Acclaim Academy in Phoenix wandering the Estrella Mountain Community College landscape for a day of learning.
Acclaim was doing a series about college preparation and each grade level participated in an activity at a local higher education institution. The kindergarteners at the academy chose EMCC. They originally just asked for a campus tour, but our early outreach program promised more for the young visitors.
Vivian Miranda, director of early outreach at the college, thought this would be a great opportunity not only for Acclaim Academy students, but for EMCC teaching students as well, so she planned a morning's worth of activities to introduce the students to college life and to provide an interactive experience for both EMCC and Acclaim Academy students.
Estrella Mountain education majors were invited to participate and give a lesson to the kindergarteners about the importance of a college education and the fact that it can be attainable. "I do think college students can have a huge impact on children their age," said Leslie Hagan, an EMCC elementary education student who participated in the day's activities. "Whether or not all 50 of those children go to college is not for us to know, but the small fact of letting them know that they can go to school will help most of them realize that high school isn�t the end of the road." The kindergarteners also put their handprints on a banner with "Class of 2022" painted on it to affirm their commitment to attend college in their academic future.
"It's important to empower the students so they can see college in their path. It was a great day for us and we hope it was for them as well," said Miranda.