NORTHRIDGE : Latino Students Get a Jolt Out of Science

It took a few hits of helium, some magnets and a minor earthquake to get their attention, but in the end, the thrill of science triumphed over the distractions assaulting the minds of sixth-graders visiting Cal State Northridge on Friday for Science Day ’94.

The visit, sponsored by the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, gave many of the 400 Latino students their first look at a state university.

The students seemed awed by the computer rooms, the lecture halls, the dormitories, the library and the pool.

“This place is a lot bigger than I thought it would be,” said Mirna Bermudez, a sixth-grader from Pacoima. “I also thought it would be a lot more boring,” she said, taking a break from a bubble-blowing experiment that had been set up by Rocketdyne scientists.

Jose Ornelas, a classmate of Mirna’s, plans to become a doctor. He said he knew long before Science Day that he’d have to study biology and chemistry. But he admitted he had never known what a university looked like. “I came in and I saw all the cars and all the tables (in the cafeteria) and doors to the classes,” he said.

“I think I want to come here. Or UCLA.”

Gerardo Garcia first proposed the event to school officials in 1986 when he was an engineering student at the university. “After I got here to school, I realized a lot of my friends never got the encouragement they needed,” said Garcia, who grew up in Pacoima and now works at the Naval Air Warfare Center at Point Mugu Naval Base. “We never even knew what a university looked like. We only knew about the walls of the barrio.”

Funding for the event comes from the Department of Water and Power, The Gas Co., and Rockwell International.

“We look predominantly for classes from Hispanic areas, but we also want teachers to bring other kids they know aren’t doing well, or maybe they’re in danger of dropping out,” Garcia said. “We want them to know we were just like them, but they can change everything if they can just get into school.”

In a steeply sloped lecture hall, CSUN geology Prof. Gerry Simila told the students how geologists help explain earthquakes and work with engineers to build stronger structures.

The students looked a little sleepy and fidgety during his slide-show presentation, but when Simila asked the audience to jump up and down so he could measure the rumbling on his seismograph, the place erupted with joyous stomping.

“This is just what the doctor ordered,” said Arnold Rosenthal, a teacher at Telfair Avenue Elementary School in Pacoima. “The kids were kind of ambivalent about coming here, but look how engrossed they are.”