Love, Science Work Some Magic

In the sixth grade, Sherry Fogg already knew her destiny.

“If someone asked what I wanted to do with my life, I always told them I wanted to work with children,” said Fogg, 30. “I have always loved children. Back when I was so young, I would go to preschools and make cupcakes with them.”

Now Fogg attracts children in droves to the Fullerton Youth Science Center in Ladera Vista Junior High School, where she excites them with science magic.

“Everything is hands-on here,” said the Fullerton College graduate.

Besides her role as chief instructor and after school program director for the center, she is in demand from schools throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties to perform her science magic.

While most of her presentations are volunteer appearances, Fogg also is hired for birthday parties and other events for children.

One of her newest programs is a class for students, from kindergarten through seventh grade, that shows them how to build an erupting volcano.

“It really is exciting for the children to make and see it erupt,” said Fogg, a six-year Fullerton resident who recently moved to Moreno Valley near Riverside. “They like the surprise of it and it helps open up a whole new avenue of learning to them.”

The volcano is constructed from a clay pot, empty tuna cans, a funnel, a brown paper bag, some vinegar with orange fruit coloring and baking soda.

“When the chemicals in the vinegar and baking soda meet, it sort of spouts out, just like a volcano when it erupts,” she said.

Volcanic ash and rocks are also brought to the class, and Fogg shows a videotape of an actual volcano eruption.

“I always loved the excitement from science and how it can be such a wonderful learning experience for children,” said the one-time Little League team mother.

Fogg has four children and a menagerie in her house that includes an opossum, guinea pigs, turtles and a four-foot python.

“I don’t get many in-laws coming to the house,” she quipped.

Fogg got her introduction to science early.

As a child she learned about electricity and its use in science from her electrician father, who has since become a private investigator.

“Children really don’t know anything about electricity and why it does what it does so it’s exciting to get the kids to understand it through a science demonstration,” she said. “A lot of adults don’t know much about it either.”

While many of the children think science is a boring subject, Fogg said, “when I do it with them their eyes get big and they keep asking what else can I do. When it’s over they tell me they’re going to be a scientist, and that’s gratifying.”

The Five Crowns restaurant in Corona del Mar is celebrating its 25th anniversary. So it invited couples married 25 years to a free dinner.

Manager Ed Lepere of Laguna Hills said the restaurant ran advertisements in Orange County newspapers and 100 couples responded by sending copies of their marriage licenses.

“Our last count showed 98 of the couples dined with us,” he said. “They had a choice of complete prime rib or chicken dinners.”

Twice a week Phyllis Spear of Dana Point gets a telephone call from her son, John Spear, 28, and daughter-in-law, Lynne Mason, 25, who are on a nationwide eight-month bicycle honeymoon trip.

“I think it’s marvelous,” said the mother. “I would have done it too, you’re darn tootin’ I would, but people in my time didn’t travel around like they do now, especially young women.”

The couple met at an outdoor leadership school in Wyoming and after marrying Aug. 26, they decided on the innovative bicycle honeymoon that will end in Orange County the last week of March.

“I’m going to have a wedding reception for them on April 7,” the mother said.

After that, the couple will head to Alaska for jobs with the National Outdoor Leadership School, which teaches wilderness survival training.

Acknowledgments--Santa Ana resident Dr. Mitchell S. Cairo, 39, of Childrens Hospital of Orange County, has been elected to the Society of Pediatric Research, composed of physicians and scientific investigators under the age of 45 who have excelled in independent research in pediatrics.