The Kids are Already Planning

COLTON >> It was career day for the children at Colton’s Gonzales Community Center. Daniel Muro program director and captain with the city of Colton’s explorer program instructed the children to sit in a circle, and posed the question; “What do you want to be when you grow up?” One by one, each child stood up and shared what they wanted to be when they grew up. There were future police officers, military personnel, artists, doctors, veterinarians, and those who just didn’t know what they wanted to be. Muro, who is training to become a police officer, said, “I was always raised to be selfless, cops risk their lives on a daily basis for people they don’t know. I wanted to be a part of that.” Muro asked our City News Group Reporter, Michael Cruz to speak. “Hello everyone, it looks like we have some very special, and talented people here today. I’m so excited I get to talk to you all,” said Cruz. Instead of speaking of the specific data analysis of content strategy, managing social media community post that drives traffic to our website, Cruz spoke instead on the very special part of traditional journalism, the age-old art of storytelling. “My name is Michael Cruz, and I didn’t always know what I wanted to be when I grew up, but I knew I wanted to do many things and have done everything I set out to do. You see, I tell stories. I always have. I guess you could call me an artist. From working on movies, and television, to writing for a newspaper,” said Cruz. Cruz spoke to student’s individually to learn about their future aspirations. He spoke first to a young student who dreams of being an artist and was hesitant to share. Cruz spoke to another, who wanted to grow up to be both a police officer and a navy seal so he could, “keep bad people from doing bad things.” Each student raised their hands and asked a variety of questions. “Is it hard to tell stories?” One child asked. “Not at all,” Cruz said. “Nothing is hard, everything just takes time. Some things that you’ll want to do will seem like it is hard, but it will just take longer than others, but you can do it in time.” Another child asked, “But what if it’s impossible?” Cruz said, “You’re right! Some things are impossible. I love space, but I can’t run outside, jump in the air, and fly to the moon. I would have to learn how to get there. You can learn to do almost anything if you’re willing to spend time doing it.” “You don’t have to wait until you grow up, you can start now. You can read books, watch YouTube videos about what you like to do. If you want to be a doctor or a police officer, be nice to a friend who’s having a bad day. To the veterinarians, learn to take the best care of your pets. You can start today.” Cruz thanked them all for being good listeners, and for their great questions, and told them that asking questions is the beginning of learning anything. Muro thanked Cruz for his time and invited him to stay until the Colton Explorers arrived. Between speakers, the children lined up for break time outside where they ate snacks, played games, and acted out their future careers. The young future veterinarian found a bird’s nest high up in the metal beams above the lunch tables and pointed it out for everyone to see. The children lined up to go back inside. Special guests, the Colton Explorers were on the way. Colton Police Explorer Lt. Sam Saenz, and Explorer Sgt. David Perez spoke to the children about their mentorship program, and how they came to pursue their career choice. The children were excited when they proposed the kids could place the explorers in handcuffs. Saenz said what made him want to join the Explorer program was that “I was really interested in law enforcement, and joined to figure out if it's something I wanted to do or not. Turned out it’s something I really wanted do.” The explorers passed around badge-like stickers and took pictures with the children. Parents began to filter in and pick up the young ones, quickly filling the parents in on what they would like to be one day. Cruz spoke to Perez about what drew him to become a police officer, “Clean up the streets. Walking around in Colton you see a lot of crime, and criminal activity. I wanted to take stand. Be able to fight it one day,” Perez said.