“The main purpose of Falcon Kids is to invite students from our surrounding [elementary schools] to the college campus, so […] we can expose them to the idea of college and what our school has to offer,” English Professor and iFalcon Club Coordinator, Damon Cagnolatti, said about the Falcon Kids event

The event, held Tuesday, hosted students from John Dolland Elementary School of the Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District.

A presentation in a lecture hall kicked off the event and had students hyped up by the school mascot, Franco Falcon.

Cagnolatti, served as a speaker for the presentation that portrayed campus life in Cerritos College and attending college as a whole.

“We want to make college for these young folks a part of their reality,” Cagnolatti stated.

“There are so many kids who grow up in the surrounding environments who never really got the chance to go to college, and we want to change that and do it in a fun way,” he said

The lecture hall was buzzing with energy and laughter provided by the young students, who took to the comedy of Franco Falcon and the rest of the iFalcon team.

Little competitions were held during the presentation.

Cagnolatti and his team split the room into halves to see which side of the room shouted the loudest. The kids loved this exercise because each side was eager to take bragging rights back to their school.

The lecture hall was so loud and alive that passing engineering major, Oscar Hernandez, couldn’t fight the urge to enter the room and check what exactly was going on.

“I was just making my way home and I heard a collective laughter of kids,” Hernandez continued, “I went inside to check, and sure enough, there [were] a bunch of kids there. It seemed like fun though.”

Acting Vice President of Academic Affairs and Assistant Superintendent, Rick Miranda gave the students a speech that continued with the theme of staying in school.

He urged the students present to follow whatever dreams they have and to not to place limits on what they can achieve.

After Miranda’s speech, the students were shown a short film on the various events held on campus in an effort to give them a positive perspective on what life is really like on the campus.

The short film followed a tour of the campus, which many of the students couldn’t wait to participate in.

They were split with their respective teachers, with an accompanying Cerritos College tour guide.

The students made their way to the Administration Building, the library, the Student Center, the Fine Arts Building and the Math Computer Information and Science Building. Their tour finalized in Falcon Square.

According to iFalcon Club Vice President Ana Sosa, events such as Falcon Kids are beneficial to the students who attend, but also for Cerritos College.

“I think today’s event was very productive for the kids because it can [motivate them] to actually get into the college culture[and] it’s also [good] for Cerritos College because it can increase the awareness young students have about our campus when deciding what college to attend in the future.”