Clover Park High School teens could hold a real human heart, watch nematodes squiggle under microscopes, and sample beef stick, soda crackers and other fermented foods Monday.

In the process, they learned university-level classes are not only challenging but waaaay cool, especially when taught by visiting faculty from Washington State University.

Ten WSU instructors took over classes at the Lakewood-area high school Monday as part of the university’s Imagine U @ WSU outreach program.

The university staff members plan to repeat their lectures and an information night at Lincoln High School in Tacoma today.

The Clover Park event included WSU staffers clad in Cougar crimson T-shirts manning a booth in the main school hallway. They answered questions about the college and promised teens a free T-shirt if they came with family to an information night at the high school.

“We do this event to get more visibility on this side of the mountain,” said Shanaiah Joyce, a WSU assistant director in enrollment services. “A lot of times it’s hard for students to get to Pullman. We figure we’ll come here to their own territory, their own backyard (so they can) find out what we’re all about.”

As part of the four-year-old program, the WSU faculty members present an academic lesson to give teens a taste of university classes, said Ermelindo Escobedo, WSU director of outreach.

“We try to make it hands-on and experiential,” he said.

Participating WSU faculty members volunteer their time but receive travel expenses.

A University of Washington spokeswoman said the UW also has high school outreach programs, but she wasn’t aware of it offering an inter-disciplinary approach like this one.

WSU offered to bring the program to Clover Park High and “we just grabbed it,” said Principal John Seaton. “This is an opportunity for students to understand that college is so much bigger than they can imagine,” Seaton said. The efforts also build on the Clover Park’s drive to send more graduates to college. In 2001, 60 percent of Clover Park High graduates planned to attend a post-secondary school; 29 percent of them intended to go to a four-year university.

In 2008, 75 percent of graduates planned to go to college, 49 percent to a four-year institution.

Students in a health class were transfixed with neuroscientist David Rector’s discussion as well as the items he brought to illustrate his talk, including a preserved human brain.

When a staff member came in to snap a photo, 11th-grader Aleesha Sims gushed, “Oh my gosh, you missed it. We got to hold a brain! That is so cool.”

Next door, WSU researcher Michael Costello tried to pique interest in the study of food science. To supplement his lecture on fermentation, he passed out samples of fermented foods: soda crackers, sour cream, cheeses and a slice of Hickory Farm beef stick.

There’s never a recession in the food industry, he told students, because everybody has to eat. Yet there are never enough food science graduates to meet industry demands.

The sessions seemed to work at stimulating excitement about the university. Daniel Torres, a senior, was impressed with the hands-on nature of the food-science lecture. He’s applied to the University of Washington, Seattle Pacific University and Western Washington; now he’s going to add WSU.

“The presentation was pretty good, so I might start thinking about applying to WSU as well,” Torres said. “It made me think if a teacher like that goes to Wazzu, maybe I want to go there.”

Debby Abe: 253-597-8694

What: High school students and their families can learn about Washington State University at the Imagine U @ WSU family night.

When: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today

Where: Lincoln High School cafeteria, 701 S. 37th St., Tacoma

Details: imagineu.wsu.edu