College for Kids a Gateway to Higher Education

Photo: Serina Duarte

Most kids make up their minds about going to college while they are in elementary school, research shows. College for Kids has been convincing youngsters for 38 years.

For many Southwestern College students, employees, administrators and faculty members, the first step they took on the road to higher education was with SWC’s summer College for Kids program. Now in its 38th year, it has given at least two generations of South County residents their first taste of classes on a college campus. Steve Tadlock, director of College for Kids, said the parents of students attending this summer were often students who attended in previous years.

“Darnell Cherry, the College for Kids coordinator and the SWC women’s basketball coach, and I were outside talking about CFK,” Tadlock said. “A father standing in line to register his son said, ‘I took a photography class through CFK years ago. It really helped me. I went on, took more classes, and now I’ve won several awards for my photographs. I think what helped me the most is when I took that class in College for Kids way back when’.”



Tadlock, director of continuing education and special projects, said classes like Kids’ Culinary Academy, Pottery Making, Inside the World of Biology, Digital Photography and Dig Our Past: Archaeology and Egypt, offers students who are entering 5th through 9th grade a variety to choose from.

“Our purpose is to provide a positive, early-on college experience where the kids can take fun, academic-based classes and learn new skills in a college environment,” he said.

College for Kids consists of two sessions of two classes each. Students are on campus for several hours each afternoon and can select the classes they want. Each class includes about 25 students. Tadlock said variety was key to the program’s success.

“We try to keep our programs exciting to make sure people will maintain interest in it,” he said. “We did Chula Vista Idol one year. Some classes repeat every year because they’re popular. This is the second year of our CSI class. Our improv class went four years. We try to promote a little bit of everything.”

Tadlock said the program heavily promotes science and technology.

“We do a lot of work with web design, web movies, and digital photography,” he said. “They even had a cadaver in class one year. We like to accommodate the folks that are interested in these areas, because of the critical shortage of people who are skilled in them, especially among our underrepresented students.”
In recent years, CFK classes have been held only on the main campus in Chula Vista. Dr. Mark Meadows, dean of continuing education, economic and workforce development, said that the 2012 session would be different.

“This year we were able to secure external funds for San Ysidro, so we’ll be offering a class down there at the Higher Education Center,” he said. “A business group is going to provide 25 scholarships for the kids down there. In addition, the Southwestern College Foundation is sponsoring 25 scholarships for students in National City, so we’ll also be offering classes there.”

A majority of students come from the SWC district, but some live outside the borders, in San Diego, La Mesa and Spring Valley. Tadlock said many of the students came back year after year, but better than that, some of them planned to come back even later.

“We do a student satisfaction survey every year,” he said. “We look at what they like and didn’t like, if they were a first time student or if they’ve been here before. Most say they’ve been here before. We always ask them, ‘Does this make you more likely to want to go to college?’ They always overwhelmingly say yes.”

Rob Unger, interim human resources coordinator and reading professor, attended one of the first College for Kids sessions as a student. He said that college appeared to be a wonderful, natural place to be a student.
“I was comfortable about college and more interested in higher education,” he said. “I remember I took two classes, Introduction to Aviation and Library Research.”

About 450 students attend College for Kids every year. Most of the instructors are K-12 teachers.

“They’re off during the summer, they’re looking for extra income, and this is something they really like to do,” Tadlock said.

Manuel Paul, superintendent of San Ysidro School District, was invited to be one of the first CFK instructors. He said he wanted to be involved with the education of young people, regardless of where they were from.

“I taught a karate class back in 1977,” he said. “It was my way of being involved in education beyond our district-only programs.”

Now classes have returned to San Ysidro and Tadlock said he is delighted. One of the classes is Introduction to Robotics, which took years to organize.

“Up until about four years ago, San Ysidro provided scholarship and transportation for their students,” he said. “But since they stopped doing that, the numbers of kids coming from there has been really, really low. It’s the economy.”

He said that extending the programs on multiple campuses benefited everyone.

“Last year, we had only three kids come from San Ysidro public schools, and one or two from National City,” Tadlock said. “This was a way of helping the kids and community, but also promoting the centers. We’re bringing the education to them in their community, so they don’t have to worry about the challenges of getting transportation to the main campus.”

This year 281 students were signed up on April 25, the first day of registration. Tadlock said that much early excitement generally continues through the summer.

“A week before it starts, you’ll see parents on campus, walking around,” he said. “The kids are pointing up at the buildings, looking around at all the different locations. They generate a lot of excitement around the college.”

Meadows said that the children’s presence on campus benefited everyone.

“I enjoy the children’s enthusiasm for the subject matter, their curiosity and interest,” he said. “There’s just something about that energy that I really enjoy. When you walk across campus between their classes, you notice it. Their parents are gone and they’re walking around with confidence, from one classroom to another. They’re sharing the sidewalks with the college students on their way to their next classes.”

Meadows said College for Kids is a strong form of community outreach and a good recruiting tool for the school.

“This lets those kids in grades five through nine look at the possibilities of going on to college,” he said. “The college touches so many lives here, and it also touches the kids’ lives just by its own presence.”

Tadlock agreed.

“This is a community program,” he said. “We have a great reputation. We’ve got a great network of people here. College for Kids is a win-win for everyone.”

Registration is ongoing until sessions begin on June 11 and July 2.

Story at the Sun.