Education & Classes in North Providence

Since 1985, the FAA-certified team of pilots and instructors at East Coast Aero Club has shepherded citizens from Hanscom Field airport to the skies above Boston for sightseeing, introductory flights, and pilot-certification programs. The crew oversees a 35-aircraft-strong fleet composed of planes by Piper, Cessna, Cirrus, and Diamond, as well as helicopters by Robinson. The company’s entry-level educational program, Learn to Fly, matches pupils up with one of more than 25 certified flight instructors, who teach students how to read each craft's instruments and back issues of SkyMall.

But passengers don't just learn about flight; they also learn about the area around them. Scenic flights afford aerial views of the city, soaring from Hanscom Field over such sights as the Lexington battlefields, the Charles River, and the USS Constitution. Passengers can bring along cameras to capture the spectacular views and document any crop circles they spot in the outfield at Fenway Park.

Responsible for populating the sets of major motion pictures filming in the Boston area, Boston Casting compiles an experienced faculty to hone histrionics with professional acting instruction. For six Sundays starting January 8, Screen Acting 101: Breaking into Acting prepares students to light up the big and small screen or spice up programming on convenience-store surveillance monitors. Under the guidance of professional acting coach Jennifer Salvucci, students break down scripts, sweat through mock auditions, and practice acting in front of a camera. In Improv Technique for Film & TV, teens hone their craft through playful theater games to stay on their toes in audition situations and create their own comedy sketches. Children sharpen budding acting, voice, and dance skills through monologues set to music in Musical Theater for Kids as coach Lorna Brunelle shows them how to stand out in a crowd without resorting to flashy costumes or fireworks.

Sharing a single art studio with 65 other artists, while inspiring, can get a bit crowded. So when the owner of the renovated factory building in the South End decided to renovate another nearby building, bead crocheter Andrea Garr put her dreams of opening her own studio and bead store into action, and Bead + Fiber was born. Wielding multihued beads and jewelry-making materials picked up from her travels around the globe, Garr both sells her creations and instructs students on how to make their own, whether it's a pair of elegant earrings for a wedding or a retractable necklace for a fashion-forward pet turtle. A lifelong artist, Garr revels in the rhythm and meditative vibe of crocheting beads as well as the seemingly endless possibilities of making your own jewelry.

With a springy-cork floor spattered with nontoxic paint, Mama & Me's facilities encourage tots to explore and create. Classes offer options for students age 6 months to 3.5 years and boost creativity and exercise motor skills in a variety of play structures and arenas. In the Little Movers course, rugrats romp across brightly colored foam obstacles. Parents can also participate in classes, helping tykes build social groups and remember what their invisible friends wore to last season's tea party.

Artepicure spreads the skills of cooking to Massachusetts microwave-dependents with an array of hands-on cooking classes that emphasize how the techniques of professional chefs can be transferred to home kitchens. Satisfy rabid Roman herbivores with Mediterranean Vegetarian, featuring meatless summer soups, spaghetti, and a crêpe cake in its curriculum, or meal-mallet gastronomic glockenspiels with Authentic German Cooking, touching upon Teutonic treats such as potato pancakes and pork schnitzel. Artepicure's Knife Skills class teaches slicing, dicing self-defense against invading tomatoes and radishes, whereas French Brasserie Dinner teaches students classic Parisian fare such as onion soup au gratin, mussels Normandy, and beef burgundy. At the end of the class, students will dig into their culinary creations, an academic output far tastier than the edible diorama of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand from third grade. New classes are added monthly, so check the schedule to see what nourishing knowledge waits in the weeks ahead.

Professional School of Bartending has taught the art of cocktail creation to more than 10,000 bartenders since the school's inception in 1977. Inside the lounge-inspired training facility, instructors teach the necessary bartending skills ranging from exotic and traditional mixology to responsible customer service.

Graduates of the comprehensive program benefit from a lifetime job-placement-assistance program that has blossomed from a regional effort to a coast-to-coast hunt thanks to the school’s recent partnership with ABC Bartending. Besides ensuring a smooth transition from graduation to career, the school has an open-door policy that leaves the light on for all graduates: former students can repeat any class free of charge helping them to revamp their mixology skills or recall how to skewer an olive without making it scream. Professional School of Bartending also streamlines local businesses' day-to-day operations by lending out its training methods and expertise through its consulting services.