It’s 9:30 a.m. on a Friday – early for many teenagers on summer vacation – and a group of Seaside High students are hunched over worktables in a chemistry lab on the Cal State Monterey Bay campus, thick plastic goggles protecting their eyes.

Beneath a Periodic Table of the Elements, the students are making biodegradable plastic from vinegar, glycerin and tapioca starch.

The class is part of the Imagine College Summer Scholar Institute. The program's goal is to give students a taste of campus life and encourage them to think that college is a realistic possibility. During the weeklong program, the students take a class of their choosing, go on field trips, tour campus, and attend a panel where first-generation college graduates tell their stories.

This summer, they could choose to study kinesiology or chemistry or to take an SAT test preparation class.

Giselle Duenas chose the chemistry class. The junior said she’s interested in science, took biology at Seaside High, and was eager to try a different subject.

“I thought it was going to be in a classroom, with lectures,” she said. “But, every day we have done experiments. It’s been fun.”

Friday’s experiment followed from their visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium the previous afternoon.

“They learned about the problems with plastics and the environment when they visited the aquarium. The experiment we’re doing today makes them aware of their use of plastics,” said Crystal Gonzalez, a CSUMB instructor who is teaching the class.

In the day’s second experiment, they learned about freezing point depression – by making ice cream, which they ate using the spoons they fashioned from their biodegradable plastic.

A lesson earlier in the week involved cosmetics and chemistry, where students made their own lip balm and lotion. Other lessons covered the chemistry of crime science investigation, where they learned about DNA extraction and fingerprint analysis.

“It’s a great program. We’ve gotten to do some cool things I wouldn’t have had a chance to do otherwise, said junior Justin Doolittle.