Education & Classes in Westlake

For 23 years, The College Review’s one-on-one and group classes have prepared students for the standardized tests and other challenges that stand between them and their future. Before high schoolers set out for the college quad's lush lawn of shredded diplomas, tutors help them master the ACT and SAT via prep courses held throughout the year, and college-counseling services aid in the rigorous application process. Current and prospective collegians can find assistance as well, whether by figuring out their loans with financial-aid planning or signing up for private tutoring for the LSAT, GRE, GMAT, or PRAXIS exams.

Behind a real bar, the instructors at Toledo Bartending School mix cocktails with finesse and expertise, running through barroom staples and cutting-edge recipes as students look on in bewildered anticipation. After the lectures and demonstrations, the metaphorical table turns, and students man the bar to master the skills necessary to serve drinks professionally. This is the regular scene during the school's 32-hour bartending course, a professional-caliber program that covers everything potential mixologists will need to know to sling drinks in the wild.

The course breaks down the ingredients of 75 specialty drinks and cocktails—including manhattans and martinis—as well as beer and wine information, customer-service techniques, and responsible alcohol service. The school also adheres to the Anheuser-Busch Beertender and Guinness Perfect Pour training programs. The program can be completed in four weeks, with weekend classes to accommodate schedules that are busier than a fireworks salesman on Woodrow Wilson’s birthday. Upon completion of the course, students can take advantage of Toledo Bartending School's job-placement program, which has landed students employment at venues such as Ritz Carlton hotels and resorts, McCormick & Schmick's, and Embassy Suites.

"If you make it, you will taste it" is the motto founders Julie Fabing Burleson and Suzy Vinson Nettles envisioned when they created Young Chefs Academy. In addition to giving youngsters hands-on exposure to culinary techniques, kitchen safety, eating etiquette, and table setting, the academy's philosophy ensures that kids like 10-year-old former veggie-hater Camille gain an appreciation for healthy homemade cuisine. With centers in more than 10 states, Young Chefs Academy enriches growing minds ages 3–18 with engaging cooking classes, camps, and birthday parties that impart valuable life skills, such as self-reliance and how to trick a younger sibling into doing the dishes.

Twenty-two years ago, Pam Burton counted herself as part of the population of people with two left feet. She struggled through every move during ballroom-dance classes and felt there must be another way to learn the moves. Not being the type of person to wait around for others to take the reins, she decided to reinvent ballroom-dance lessons so everyone—including that two-left-feet group—could easily understand how their feet were supposed to move.

The casual atmosphere inside 2 Left Feet Dance Studio finds students of all experience levels working through dance steps in a group, semi-private, or private setting. Once a month, people can test their newly acquired skills during a ballroom dance with pizza, pop, and a half-hour lesson.

Coffee-shop owner, barista, and coffee consultant Tony DiCorpo and his fellow bean specialists acquaint curious coffee sippers with the art of crafting brews during hands-on classes in the school's full espresso bar. With curricula geared toward everyone from home enthusiasts to professional baristas and coffee-shop owners, classes include coffee tastings and roasting courses, during which students learn how to transform green coffee beans into mature java seeds by way of gentle roasting and exposure to sentimental coffee jingles. During intensive barista-training workshops, teachers brew espresso-based beverages, imparting techniques for pulling the perfect shot, frothing milk for lattes or cappuccinos, and advice for maintaining peak percolating conditions in shop machines.