Student Spotlight: Kai Navratil
Kai Navratil keeps himself quite busy as a general rule; he doesn’t like to waste time. He fills his calendar with club meetings, study/social time, and official student government business – guided by the notion that his time at El Camino was limited.
“When I put my mind to something I give it my full attention,” he said. “I think that comes from the fact that will transfer soon; two years is not a lot of time to slack. I have to make the most of it. I found so much support and things to do at El Camino, and I want to help others have that as well.”
And that’s where Navratil’s motivation comes from: He wants students to access all that El Camino has to offer. On campus, he found many ways to do that. He revived the college’s Computer Science Club and became its president, which grew into establishing an ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) chapter at El Camino. He also led a team to organize California’s largest “hackathon” for community college students, which featured sponsorships, workshops, and mentorship opportunities. In addition, he was an active member of El Camino’s ASO, HTP, and MESA.
“I served as a board member for these clubs, mainly so that I could work collaboratively with other clubs,” said Navratil. “One of my favorite things I worked on with the Computer Science Club was planning university tours, including visits to USC, UCLA, UC San Diego, and UC Irvine. We tried to make it as accessible as possible, keep it really interactive and geared to STEM students, while making the most of the day so that everyone went home learning something new. Each campus had something interesting to offer.”
After graduating in June, he plans to transfer to UC Berkeley this fall to major in electrical engineering and computer science and eventually begin a career where he can design technology and products that help others. Off campus, he teaches programming at Code Ninjas and is a lead software engineer at a company building an AI-powered skincare platform.
Navratil’s hard work was recognized earlier this semester when he was named a semifinalist for the highly selective 2026 Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship. The prestigious national award honors exceptional community college students working to complete their bachelor’s degrees. He credits El Camino for guiding him to systems and programs that helped him focus on whatever he was working toward – even if he wasn’t sure of which way he wanted to go.
“Student life at El Camino made college much more than just classes,” he said. “It’s all about immersing yourself in the awesome community and then you have a home; this way, it means a lot more to come to school, and you have a lot of fun. When I first came to El Camino, I found no barrier to anything, so I just started to try everything. I met faculty and staff who supported me, and the best friends who pushed me to succeed. El Camino really helped me learn about having a community and how to be involved in your community.”