SANTA ANA (KABC) -- In an effort to promote college and career readiness, Santa Ana College, or SAC, hosted 1,000 kindergarteners at its Annual Kinder Caminata career fair.
Children from the Garden Grove and Santa Ana Unified School Districts made stops at booths to learn about professions like nursing, education, the arts, law enforcement, firefighting and much more. They even got a taste of life as a broadcast journalist and photographer from our very own Eyewitness News team.
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College and university representatives remind them of the importance of a higher education in securing a career path. Toyama Karate-Do Martial Arts Academy has more than two decades getting participants to work up a sweat at this event, but the lesson goes far beyond that.
"The goal is to teach character and discipline throughout the actual two minutes that we're with them and we empower them so that they can go ahead and become ninjas for the day but champions in life to make sure that they reach their goals," said sensei Jerry Cazales.
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Organizers say it's never too early to encourage students to go to college or make a difference in their communities. Some who experienced this as children years ago are back helping future generations succeed.
"I just talked to a counselor who works here at Santa Ana College and she said that she went through Kinder Caminata 25 years ago and it made such an impact that she wanted to go into education," said Dr. Gregory Toya, Dean of Student Affairs at Santa Ana College.