Throughout the summer, the Claremont Education Foundation (CEF) offers classes through SLICE of Summer, a program that provides students with classes on an array of academic and extra-curricular subjects.

The SLICE program’s classes are structured to support enrichment, remediation and advancement.

Two classes offered through the program are Weird Science and Get Cookin’, which both provide a hands-on learning experience for students. Weird Science is offered to students from first through third grades, and is designed to teach younger children about the basics of physical science, biology, oceanology, chemistry and paleontology.

The students learn through a variety of experiments, problem solving, building, creating and journaling about the things they experience in the class.

Instructor Scott Boen, an avid mountain biker, former lawyer, travel enthusiast and transitional kindergarten teacher at Oakmont Elementary, teaches the youngsters and guides them through their daily experiments.

“[Mr. Boen] has us do cool experiments every day,” said Claremont’s Matthew Glovsky, a Weird Science student. “He also gave us these journals to write about it.”

Recently the students in Weird Science have been conducting experiments to do with geology, such as erupting volcanoes made of acids and bases, also known as vinegar and baking soda. Other projects have included cracking open his daughter Juliet’s geode and showing his students the crystals inside.

Another SLICE class is Get Cookin’, a course designed to teach students in grades 5-12 how to be safe while cooking, kitchen and food terminology and thorough cooking methods.

Rachel Wear, a CUSD substitute teacher, is the class instructor. Ms. Wear, who is also an assistant coach for the CHS Speech and Debate team, enjoys cooking herself, and found her inspiration for teaching the class when she discovered that none of her speech and debate students knew how to cook.

Recently the students in Get Cookin’ have been creating desserts such as mushroom meringue and cookies. The young chefs have also prepared foods such as lemon chicken, baked potatoes and cheesecake.

For information about the Claremont Educational Foundation, which is winding up the SLICE of Summer program but kicking off its 25th year celebration, visit supportcef.com.

—Nathaniel Rodriguez

[Editor’s note: Nathaniel will being his junior year this fall at Claremont High School. When he’s not playing baseball for CHS, Nathaniel works on the student newspaper The Wolfpacket. He was assistant sports editor his sophomore year but will take over as sports editor next year. Nathaniel wrote a few sports stories for the COURIER last football season.?We look forward to him contributing again this year when the Pack starts the season.—KD]