Smiling with Buzzy. Dancing to music in the quad. Running up and down the soccer pitch at Sherbeck Field. These sights and sounds were on full display as a bustling Fullerton College hosted their yearly KinderCaminata on Friday morning.
Each year, FC invites many different elementary schools from Anaheim, La Habra, and Fullerton for the event, hosting over 1,000 children along with teachers and parents. Many students and faculty members volunteer to help with the event and guide the children around campus to the different activity stations that are set up.
“The purpose of the event is to introduce college to kindergarten students but also plant that seed, so they can grow up and know what college is,” said Itzel Marin, Cadena Cultural Center program assistant.
The event was created 25 years ago to celebrate the life of Cesar Chavez and is traditionally aimed to be held near Cesar Chavez Day in March. Many other community colleges in the state host similar events all for the same purpose.
This event is in honor of Chavez’s famous motto “Si, se puede!” which translates to “Yes, you can,” to show the children in their early stages of education that higher education is a possibility.
Each year, student volunteers welcomed the cheerful kindergarten children and adults to campus. The children were given bright neon string backpacks that they will carry around with them throughout the day, filling them with different snacks and souvenirs taken from the activity stations.
The student volunteer or “Kinder Buddy” guides the different schools around the campus to the different activity stations assigned to them. The kindergartners will then spend 15 minutes at each station, interacting with the departments while learning more about the station’s subject.
“It just gets them thinking ahead of time and lets them explore their interests and what they like to do,” said sophomore Hannah Hernandez, a volunteer and sociology major. “Also, just gives them a break away from whatever they’re doing and allows them to have fun and like college.”
Over 200 students and faculty volunteered to help with the different activity stations and assist the groups of kindergarten classes around campus.
“We encourage students from different programs such as the Grads to Be Program, Puente Program, LGBTQIA+, Outreach Program, and other programs throughout campus to be at the event,” said Marin. “We connected with them and we invited scholars and student assistants.”
Over 40 different activity stations were set up around campus, from the football field to the quad and surrounding buildings. These subjects range from history, sports, and science. All stations had hands-on activities that were related to a career or field of study that Fullerton College offers.
Some of the activity stations included “Water Density Through Color” in the North Science Building and “Mentos and Coke” in the quad.
“We want to inspire a love of science to the children at an early age,” said Stephanie Tan, outreach coordinator for the BioTechnology program. “So in the future, it’s not daunting to them and they want to actually do science class or maybe pursue a science career.”
