Who wants to shout “Kazaam!” just before pulling a rabbit from a skullcap? Who wants to construct a giant turtle from paper intricately folded into dozens? Who wants to get down with their hip-hop skills?The options are rare, colorful, imaginative and downright enchanting.

Simply thumb through UC Davis’s experimental college catalog and you’ll see … Imagine flipping through a catalog and finding these beauties: fire walking, dancing (including breaking, Merengue and tango), disc jockeying, guitar, origami, gardening, magic, bike maintenance, dog training, hip-hop and belly dance.

Sacramento State is a nice school, but it needs to get creative and provide a little more to spice up every student need. Some things are missing from this school ?” things that are peculiarly beneficial.

And while students find an escape from traditional academia via Greek circles, clubs, athletics and jobs, these alternative classes, albeit almost credit-less, would add a positive new dimension to this school.

The classes will enrich students’ lives. Just ask Darius Pazirandeh, with the UC Davis Experimental College in Davis.

“It provides a chance for students to try new things,” Pazirandeh said. “It fulfills an educational, personal need.”

The experimental college has about 1,000 students, a quarter of whom are not UC Davis students. In addition to professors, community members and college students teach the courses.

Although relatively small, Pazirandeh said the college is hardcore in fulfilling its goal of providing unique educational opportunities. It has a library and a garden and they attend class because they are learning something that they want to do, classes which are not typically provided at most colleges. And there are no grades.

Pazirandeh said the college is overseen by the student government and is run independently as a nonprofit business to keep it running.

“The main reason is to try something new, another that it’s the only place you can do it,” Pazirandeh said.

Furthermore, students with class ideas are encouraged to propose those ideas to see if they can teach a course. Some ideas students had that didn’t fly: a gun safety class, a how to “do it” class and a class about growing hallucinogen mushrooms.

But besides that, Pazirandeh said they offer almost anything else. Pretty wild, but innovative. And that’s what attracted UC Davis student Helen Loung to the college.

“I love that place, it’s just a cool place to be,” Loung said.- “Lots of fun classes.” For Loung, it’s a stress-free escape from her school load and something refreshing. “I can learn at my own pace and my other classes do stress me out a lot, but the class at the experimental college is just something that I do when I have time.”

Sounds like an agreeable deal; here’s another one: Pazirandeh said that some students could receive credit by teaching a course under the guidance of a college professor, but it can’t be something too wacky, like a sex class.

Most students need to find a way to fulfill their unique needs not provided in certain lecture halls and labs, and that’s what these classes bring.

“No, I didn’t really expect to take these classes in college…but I’m glad they are there,” Loung said.

It’s a social thing. It’s an educational thing.- It’s a good thing.

Some of the classes just make you shake your head. A fire walking class? But an idea is an idea and, good or not, you’ve got to give it a chance.- “I don’t know, it’s just a place for me to learn something without the stress of grades, you know what I mean?” Loung said.

Yeah, I know what you mean; sometimes you just got to roll with it.

Gamaliel Ortiz can be reached at [email protected]