BELLINGHAM — Hundreds of fifth-graders got their first glimpse of a college campus Tuesday.

Cyndie Shepard hopes it won’t be their last.

As they stepped out of their familiar yellow school buses and onto the red brick pathways of Western Washington University, many of the youngsters stared in wonder.

Every few feet, a staff member helped guide the children to the Carver Gymnasium, where they heard from Shepard, the university president’s wife.

Shepard is the reason more than 800 fifth-graders from Whatcom and Skagit counties visited the campus that day. She has launched a program called Compass 2 Campus to help students from low-income areas realize the dream of a college education.

The program sends about 430 Western students into the classrooms of 10 area elementary schools, including Lucille Umbarger in Burlington, Mary Purcell in Sedro-Woolley and Washington Elementary in Mount Vernon. Those college students act as mentors and tutors at no cost to the elementary schools they serve.

This is the first year for Compass 2 Campus, and the college mentors have been in the classroom for only one week. But Shepard also co-founded a similar program in Green Bay, Wis., in 2003. The program, called Phuture Phoenix, will graduate its first high school seniors this school year.

“In Green Bay, we were bringing up the (grade point average) and we were changing the truancy rates,” Shepard said. “When our (college) students were in the schools, the kids tended to be there because they liked being with their mentors.”

The Compass 2 Campus program is funded by private donations. Skagit Valley College and other community colleges are also partnering in the program.

In return, Western students gain credits toward graduation as they gain experience in the classroom. The program will follow the elementary students as they move up in grades. Eventually, Shepard said, the program will have college mentors in every grade from fifth grade through high school.

“(Fifth grade) is when research tells us kids start to think about the future,” Shepard said. “Self image starts to develop.”

In Carver Gym, students sat on the floor while they waited to hear Shepard speak. Behind her, two of the school’s Viking mascots pumped up the crowd.

Shepard asked how many students wanted to graduate from high school.

Nearly every hand shot up.

Then, she asked, how many wanted to graduate from college?

Many weren’t so sure.

Shepard hopes the students’ attitudes will change the longer they are exposed to their Western Washington University mentors.

“In eight years, you’re going to be graduating from high school,” she said. “In four years after that, you could be graduating from Western.”

From the gym, 127 different student groups fanned out to different areas of the campus. The students were largely separated by interest. Some went to working laboratories in chemistry, others to the library or art and drama classrooms.

Six students from Washington Elementary in Mount Vernon visited the kinesiology lab. They visited three different stations in the lab, which studies human movement.

The students crowded around a computer screen as one of their peers wore a wrist wrap with four reflective balls on it. Special cameras picked up the reflective markers and recorded the student’s movements on the computer.

This, one researcher explained, is how video games and action movies are made.

Suddenly the students became much more interested.

Next, the students gathered around a metal plate in the ground while professor Kathy Knutzen picked student Jacob Spjut as an example. Next to the plate was a device used to measure vertical jump, called a Vertec, which consists of an upright metal rod with plastic markers the jumper taps to mark the height of a jump.

“The way we jump high is we push into the ground,” Knutzen said. “We’re going to measure Jacob’s force, and he’s going to jump as high as he can.”

After a false start, Jacob jumped. At the height of his leap he tapped the highest marker he could reach. After he landed, the students crowded around the computer to see the force he exerted.

Knutzen, who works in the department of physical education, health and recreation, told students that athletes can use the data to improve their jumps.

After stops in the functional anatomy lab and the research library, students took a break at the fountain.

Jacqueline Nelson sat with a classmate, Beatriz Morales, on the edge of the fountain. Both said the trip was exciting and fun, but being only 10 years old, they weren’t quite sure what they wanted to do with their lives.

“I think I might want to be a veterinarian,” Jacqueline said. “I like animals.”

Beatriz echoed her preference.

“I want to be a police officer and a veterinarian,” Beatriz said.

Both students said their parents had never been to college, and Beatriz said the program has so far helped her broaden her horizons.

“They teach you how to be other things,” she said.

That’s just the result Shepard wants.

“We hope this will give them an eye to their future and allow them to create what it is they want for their future that may be different from their parents,” Shepard said.

Fifth-grader Alex Lamm had never been on a college campus.

“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “It’s big. They have a fountain and everything. I didn’t think it would be this big.”

His favorite stop was the library, including “the big stairs and all of the books.”

Kristie Ladner is a Spanish major at Western Washington University. She heard about the Compass 2 Campus program last year and wanted to participate.

“It sounded like something important in our community,” Ladner said.

The program allows students to earn credit for their volunteer work.

“It’s hard sometimes to find time to volunteer and attend school at the same time,” Ladner said.

Several groups of students then converged back at the gym to watch demonstrations by Western’s many sports teams.

“I hope they can relate college to a positive experience,” she said.

Shepard said the college students get something out of it too.

“They learn a tremendous amount about giving back to their communities,” Shepard said. “They truly learn how important educating our future is.”

Compass 2 Campus

What is it? A program that sends Western Washington University students to work in area elementary schools.

How is it funded? Private donations and grants

Who is involved? About 430 Western Washington University students sign up to work in one of 10 elementary schools in Skagit or Whatcom counties. More than 800 fifth-graders are being mentored by Western students. The students come from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds, low income and would potentially be first-generation college students.

What is the goal? Increase grades and lower truancy rates among elementary students, help students understand that college is an attainable goal and increase university student roles in the community.

What is the course? For the first three weeks of class, the Western students learn communication skills and proper mentoring techniques. Throughout the quarter, Western students are required to spend a minimum of three hours per week in their assigned classroom.

How were the schools selected? Superintendents of each district selected the schools based on whether they were supported by Title 1 grants, which provides money to schools with high rates of students in poverty.

Source: Western Washington University

• Kate Martin can be reached at 360-416-2145 or at .