Tiger Chips In; Kids Are Winners

This week is payback time for Tiger Woods.

Friday, the Cypress native and top-ranked golfer in the world will dedicate an education center for Southern California youth next to the golf course where he often played as a teenager.

At the Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, fourth- to 12th-graders will be able to take classes in math and the sciences, explore careers, and learn a little golf.

Scores of local schoolchildren have gotten a sneak peek since the start of the year, and they like what they see.

“It’s, like, really good to be here,” said Gilbert Chavez, a fifth-grader at Price Elementary School who is taking classes in drama and forensics at the center.

The 10-year-old is among 50 students on a break from their year-round schools and enrolled in a day program at the center. An additional 100 students take part in an after-school program at the 14-acre campus next to Dad Miller Golf Course, where Woods often practiced while attending Western High School.

The $25-million center primarily will serve children from Southern California, with an emphasis on the poor, such as many of the children who attend nearby overcrowded Anaheim schools.

“One of Tiger’s requirements was to make sure that we located the center in an area that’s underserved so that we could be able to provide educational resources to a community that was underserved,” said Gregory McLaughlin, president and chief executive of the Tiger Woods Foundation.

The center, which opened more than a year later than expected, will be dedicated Friday by former President Clinton and Woods, who donated $6 million of his own money. The remainder of the $25 million in construction and ongoing costs came from corporate and individual donations and $3 million from the state. The county is leasing the land to the center for $1 per year.

The center includes a 35,000-square-foot complex with wireless Internet access, more than 200 computers and classrooms devoted to subjects including aerospace and robotics. There are high-tech production facilities where children can record music and edit videos. Golf clinics for the youngsters will be held at the adjacent driving range, chipping green and 18-hole putting course. A student lounge and cafe overlook the golf areas.

Eventually, about 3,500 students will pass through the center annually, at no cost to their families.

On Monday, a handful took part in a drama class. Bryan Zurita, 10, said acting had helped build his self-confidence. “I felt good,” he said, “and I felt a little embarrassed.”

Chavez has enjoyed the forensics class, which he called “exciting,” and said he might consider a career in the field. He will learn about fingerprinting, DNA analysis and other crime-fighting skills. Students said they especially enjoyed using microscopes, with which they scrutinized grains of sugar and salt. At the end of their monthlong program, the students will search for clues at a staged crime scene and then use their acting skills for a mock trial.