ShawneeDispatch.com

There are no summer doldrums at Rising Star Elementary or Shawnee Mission South High School.

The buildings serve as the locations for Shawnee Mission USD 512’s 2009 Summer Enrichment Program for students preschool through eighth grades.

The program offers a variety of weeklong classes through July 24, including what’s cookin’, hands-on science, sports and games galore, babysitting, computers and photography. Classes are offered in two sessions, in the morning from 9 a.m. to noon, and in the afternoon from 1 to 4 p. m.

The program also offers before and after school care for children whose parents are not able to pick them up right after class.

Grace Altenhofen, Bluejacket-Flint third-grader, attended what’s cookin’ cookies galore last week at Rising Star.

“We learned how to make cookies that I’ve never heard of before,” she said.

The students in the class help prepare 10 types of cookies, including applesauce cookies, raisin bran cookies and brownie cookies.

Down the hall students in hands-on science were measuring bananas to figure out why people pay for parts of the banana, the skin, they are just going to throw away.

Jeff Psota, hands-on science instructor, said the best time to buy bananas was when they were ripe, because the skin is thinner, making them weigh less.

Creighton Young, Mill Creek Elementary fourth-grader, said his favorite hands-on science experiment was blending cabbage and making it turn colors with vinegar and milk magnesium.

This is the first year Christa McAuliffe fourth-grader Abby Bliss has attended summer enrichment classes. She decided to try them after friends recommended the courses.

On Thursday afternoon she also attended hands-on science class. She plans to attend what’s cookin’ Italian delight next week.

While some students only chose one class each week, Abby attended both the morning and afternoon classes last week at Rising Star. She attended music class during the morning session.

“I love science, music and cooking,” she said. “The first day was really fun. I like all the experiments, the solar balloon and the cabbage.”

Summer Enrichment classes are designed to encourage new interests and learn from hands-on activities.

While weighing his banana, Creighton learned that bananas are berries.

Abby found out that bananas don’t grow on trees and that they are the most popular fruit sold in the U.S.

“We also learned about buoyancy, the ship has to weigh the same amount or it will sink,” she said of the science class.

Grace said she liked the summer classes because students learn in a fun environment.

“It’s fun because you learn a lot of new stuff,” she said. “It’s way more fun than regular school.”

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