ROYAL CITY - Seeking to enhance educational experiences for students, the Royal Parent Teacher Organization is encouraging the organization of Lunch Clubs at Royal Middle School.

"We'd like the community to know about some of the good things they're doing," the RPTO's Polly Carlson said.

There are three Lunch Clubs so far - Cooking, Science, and Humanitarian. The students chose which club they were most interested in joining, and the clubs were open to all students from third through fifth grades.

According to Carlson, club members eat their lunch quickly and then participate in club activities once a week during their lunch recess time.

The Humanitarian Club has organized a charity project to benefit 20 orphans in Haiti (see story online tomorrow). In the next couple of weeks there will be donation drop boxes at the elementary school and other locations.

Cooking Club members made pizzas and Italian Sodas for their first meeting. The goal was to teach them to make a few simple foods and snacks they can fix for themselves at home.

Science Club members learned about acids and bases during their first meeting. The kids experimented with the effect of acids and bases on the color of red cabbage juice.

"The kids had a lot of fun and are looking forward to the next activity," Carlson said.

Other topics of study for the Science Club will be chromatography, an engineering challenge, surface tension, and a few bangs mixed in for surprises.

"Everything we do will involve common things from around the house, so they can go home and show their parents what they learned - with an adult's supervision, of course," Carlson said.

Carlson added that the PTO appreciates the help and flexibility given by Principal Theresa Eilers, Assistant Principal Rich Gregoire, and other Red Rock staff to find a way to fit these Lunch Clubs into the school schedule.