‘Why do you keep asking about Woodland Hills? I like Canoga Park.’ : Branden Kennon, 6 : Candor Deflates Boosterism

What’s the best thing about going to school in Woodland Hills?

Going home to Canoga Park.

Representatives of the Woodland Hills Chamber of Commerce were startled to hear that Friday when they visited a Woodland Hills elementary school to ask first-graders what they like about the community.

They had hoped for cute answers that could be printed in a community directory to be published in March.

But, when it was 6-year-old Branden Kennon’s time to answer, the bespectacled, studious-looking youngster, who sports a tiny lightning-bolt earring in his left ear, didn’t mince words.

“Why do you keep asking about Woodland Hills?� Branden asked chamber interviewer Kathy Garner. “I like Canoga Park.�

Branden lives in a Canoga Park neighborhood that is in the Woodlake Avenue Elementary School attendance zone. And he didn’t hesitate to tell Garner why he prefers his town.

“I like the parks there. They have lots of stores, places you can get ice cream,� he said. “I like Canoga Park better.

Garner gulped and moved on with her tape recorder. But she was on scarcely safer ground when she stopped at Robert Scherer, also 6.

“I live in Woodland Hills. But we’re gonna move,� Robert said, tugging on his He-Man sweat shirt. “I like He-Man, but he lives far away. He lives in Orange County. I think it would be a little bit boring for He-Man if he lived in Woodland Hills.�

Garner gamely pressed on. She finally found the answers she was looking for:

Ericka Stanley said she likes Woodland Hills because she lives on a hill “and I can go outside and look down on houses.�

Annie Hull said she likes it because “people are nice and there are lots of kids to play with.�

Jeffrey Vigo, also 6, seemed to feel life moves pretty slowly in the community:

“I’ve lived in Woodland Hills 12 years,� he said.