Sixty-three Dearborn Park Elementary School fifth graders got a chance to see what it’s like to go to college on Wednesday, spending the day at the Seattle Pacific University campus with a 17-year-old alumna of their school and recently admitted SPU student Christine Palpalotoc, who will be starting at the college in the fall.
Palpalotoc spent the day showing the kids from Dearborn around SPU and talking to them about what first led her to think about attending college. She is one of the first Dearborn Park Elementary School graduates to be admitted to SPU.
As part of SPU’s “go to college” day program, the fifth graders were divided into pairs and accompanied by an SPU education student. Throughout the day the kids got to participate in an investigative science activity, an information hunt at the SPU library, attend a music class and physical education course, and get the true college dining experience at SPU’s “all you care to eat” dining hall.
The day concluded with a presentation entitled “College Is a Plan, Not a Dream,” and a chat with Palpalotoc.
This was the seventh annual SPU “go to college” day, sponsored by the SPU School of Education, alongside the Lilly Foundation, and with contributions from a number of on campus groups and organizations.