Everett Community College’s Student Life Committee often looks for ways to help out in our community and on November 2nd, the Cal Ripken Foundation partnered with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Snohomish County to give kids involved with their after school program a, “College Day” at Everett. Over 100 kids turned up ranging from ages 9 to 14, to experience what Everett has to offer.

This included a guided tour of campus, a question panel for the kids where they got to ask questions of athletes and Student Life members. This was followed by a group dinner hosted in Parks Cafe where the kids and all those involved talked over a dinner provided by Pete’s Barbeque. All to be topped off by taking the kids to watch the Trojans play a volleyball match against Bellevue College.

Ken Salem, Director of Strategic Initiatives for The Cal Ripken Foundation was mightily impressed with the maturity of the students involved with the project as well as thankful, “We wanted to do something special for the kids and show them how fun college can be, as well as all the options available to them…we can’t thank the group involved enough for their contribution to this,” he states.

The kids received knowledge on all sorts of things, from questions about pets on campus to what it’s like being away from home for the first time. The children’s faces lit up with excitement as they were told of life with no curfew, majors in things they’d never heard of like; journalism or forensic studies, and interesting classes they could think about taking such as History of the American Comic Book.

Afterwards, all those involved congregated in Parks Cafe to enjoy a meal and allow the kids to ask the athletes about their sports. Baseball player, Nathaniel De La Cruz, one of those on the panel, enjoyed being able to interact with all the kids saying, “It’s cool knowing they’re all looking up to us, I mean we were just kids too and just trying to figure it out as much as them, but being able to help them out and make them excited for their future, it’s a good feeling.”

After the food festivities, the group headed over to enjoy the volleyball game which ended in a loss for the Trojans. However, that did not dampen any spirits as the kids left smiling and Salem, happy with the day’s events, who adds, “We look forward to our next endeavor with those involved at EvCC.”