This is a likely place to find Carol Best, director of West Valley College for Kids. The program, held in June and July, is offered for students entering sixth through ninth grades. The enhancement classes offered range from traditional math and science classes to photography, art, psychology, Spanish and even golf. Students can also write and act in an original musical or plan the building of a park in a business class.

Best said these classes are unique because the curriculum is activity- rather than lecture-based. The instructors include middle and high school teachers who have experience in their respective fields, which Best said is part of the reason students keep coming back to the program summer after summer until they are too old to participate.

Teacher Kari Provost taught her students how to make fajitas and crepes during the first couple days of a cooking class this session. Crissy Marshall,15, who will be entering ninth grade at Westmont High School, said she enrolled in the class to become better at making meals at home but said it's going to take some time for her to adjust to blood squirting from raw meat.

Eleven-year-old Megan Nolet of Saratoga is headed for Redwood Middle School this fall. Nolet said she's planning to prepare for her family the recipes she has learned in class.

Graphing linear and non-linear functions in teacher Anthony Leal's math class isn't just about figuring out problems on paper. Leal's class includes more puzzles and hands-on activities rather than drills and workbook exercises.

Akshay Aanabathula, 14, said he didn't have any other plans for the summer so he decided to enroll in College for Kids. The soon-to-be ninth-grader at Saratoga High School said he also wanted to enhance his math skills.

"My parents think I'm very advanced in math," said Patrick Lee, 11, who will be entering sixth grade at Challenger School of Saratoga. "They want me to be a mathematician."

Teacher Mike Cristol's speech and debate class was faced with the assignment of explaining an item or profession of their choice for three minutes in front of the class, with 40 minutes to prepare.

"Nobody knows which came first, the chicken or the egg," said 11-year-old Christopher Castillo in his humorous but informative speech about chickens. Castillo said so far he has learned from his teacher how to capture his audience and take breaths between words to project his voice.

"My mom wanted me to learn how to speak up a little and not be afraid to talk in front of people," he said.

Stephanie Kim, 10, who is going to be a sixth-grader at Rogers Middle School, said this was her first time taking College for Kids classes, as she put the finishing touches on an Asian watercolor scroll in teacher Ai Resnick's art class.

"It's better than normal school because you get to do what you like for a longer amount of time," Kim said.

Ruth Carlson, West Valley College public affairs director, said the program was designed to encourage more kids to go on to college after high school, although the first few days of classes can be a little disorientating on a big college campus.

"We get a kick out of these little kids—preteens—walking around campus with their maps, basically acting like college students," she said.

Carlson said the program was initiated 14 years ago when parents of children in the Saratoga Union School District Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) program requested that the college offer an enrichment program for their children.

"It was my hope that by getting young students on a college campus we would make the whole idea of college less intimidating to kids who may not have had college on their radar screens before," said Gary Hubbard, the college's dean of community education.

While the program doesn't allow the nearly 200 participants to earn college credits, Best said "some of the students use the classes to get ahead on the next grade level, and others use them to keep up over the summer."

Students are able to plan their course schedule just as regular college students do, taking three classes a day, but also with the option of taking more classes later in the afternoon.

Best came on board eight years ago, after retiring from a 35-year career teaching in San Jose's Moreland School District. Best said she enjoys directing the program so much that she can't seem to fully retire. "I truly enjoy it," she said. "The students are happy to be here. By the end of the session students whose parents made them come want to come back next year."

Parent Becky Perelli has middle school­age triplets who are attending College for Kids this summer and took the courses last year.

"What they liked most was the independence and taking charge of their lives every day," Perelli said.