ITE Career Day demystifies college for local middle schoolers

There was an unmistakable buzz of activity — and the persistent buzz of toy robots — as a group of 19 eighth graders immersed themselves in hands-on science activities at San Diego State University. 

Amid the clamor of the classroom, Adrian Del Rio was having a moment.

“It’s actually really emotional for me — there’s no other feeling like it,” said the Upward Bound counselor in SDSU’s Institute for Transformative Education (ITE). “Whatever else is going on in my life, I know I'm doing the right thing by being here. 

“There are a lot of transformative moments, as we like to call them, in ITE.”

The feel-good moment took place on April 25 as part of Career Day, an annual ITE event that brought 120 area middle school students to the SDSU campus to explore career options, demystify the college experience and discover ITE programs that are available to them. Participating schools included Castle Park in Chula Vista and Wilson, Clark and Horace Mann in San Diego.

Formerly called the Pre-College Institute, ITE provides underrepresented students access to educational and life resources to support them on their pathway to college and career. 

“Hosting middle schoolers is always filled with hope and promise for the future,” said Professor Cynthia Park, ITE’s founder and executive director.

Indeed, the vibes were immaculate in the North Education Building, where students took part in workshops led by Laura Craig, School Partnership Coordinator in the College of Education, that embodied the Career Day theme of “Build It, Create It. Make it your future.” Students broke up into groups to play with science education toy sets such as EVO and Sphere robots, Snap circuits and Cubelets discovery sets.

“We thought this was a good opportunity to come to San Diego State and they’ve been enjoying it — the activities this year seem very hands-on," said Alexis Peraza (’12, ’14, ’22), an eighth grade bilingual educator at Castle Park who earned her bachelor’s, credential and master’s from SDSU.

“We want them to see that college is attainable and that they can come and it’s not scary. I think it’s so important to bridge that gap so that students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged can have these opportunities to experience these things.”

For Del Rio, himself a graduate of Castle Park Middle, that message struck a chord.

“It empowers them to come here and see folks that look like them or speak like them,” he said. “It not only demystifies the university, but it makes it real for them.”