By Dana Poon
Inside a 5th-grade classroom, chatter began to decrease as the teacher introduced a student from San José State University. Elementary schoolers leaned forward in their seats as a 4th-year Public Health SJSU Student started his presentation, describing what it’s like to study at a university. The SJSU student began to describe their life in college, what it’s like to work as a student, and the different activities they are involved in on campus.
In late October 2025, the CommUniverCity team visited Stonegate Elementary School located in East San José. Each team member gave a 30-minute presentation to 4th through 8th graders, covering basic topics about life as a student in higher education. College majors, favorite aspects of campus life, academic challenges, and practical advice on how these students can start preparing for higher education were the main topics discussed in these classrooms.
The purpose of this visit was to increase early exposure to higher education for students who may not have direct access to that information at home or school.
CommUniverCity’s Community Outreach Program Coordinator, Alicia Allan, helped organize the visit in collaboration with Stonegate’s administration.
“This was our first time working with Stonegate,” Allan said. “We were thrilled to bring College Day presentations to 4th-8th graders for Fall 2025. As I was walking around to the 10 different classes, I saw so many of the Stonegate students engaging with the SJSU students and asking about their interests and experiences.”
According to Principal Jahsve Worthy, Stonegate Elementary currently lacks a college or career exploration component in its curriculum.
“Most of these kids don’t have much exposure to college, especially our eighth graders,” Worthy said. “They’re at an age where they’re starting to think about their future, but many of them don’t know what options are out there yet.”
Worthy also mentioned that she has been searching for an advisor, but with the position currently being unfilled, she is grateful for CommUniverCity stepping in to help with the task.
“The school is in need of college and career readiness advisors to help give students more exposure to future opportunities,” she said.
For SJSU student and Project Coordinator Emily Dairokuno, who helped lead one of the sessions, the visit was both educational and eye-opening.
“I had a few conversations with students in the class, and one of them mentioned that they had bad grades, so they probably wouldn’t be able to go to college,” Dairokuno said. “It was a reminder of why these visits are important to show students that college is still possible, no matter where they’re starting from.”
Dairokuno said that many of the students had never talked about college before, so hearing directly from university students gave them a new perspective.
At the end of each college presentation, the elementary students filled out surveys about their experience with College Day. In a question that asked if they were more confident about attending college now that they had sat through the presentation, 174 out of 197 elementary school students said “yes” or indicated they wanted to learn more about college after the presentations.
“Before the presentations started, I talked with some of the students, and a few said they weren’t going to college,” Allan said. “It wasn’t that they didn’t want to go; they just didn’t see it as an option. The answers that these students gave me probably changed after the presentations.”
Allan mentioned that the youth in these low-income communities are often impacted the most because of the lack of available resources, which is why CommUniverCity is dedicated to helping address these challenges.
“This is exactly what Principal Worthy wanted for her students–to experience college and career exploration initiatives since the school has not had anything of the sort before,” Allan said.
“After talking with Principal Worthy, we have already started planning an SJSU Campus Tour for her eighth graders in Spring 2026!”