Learn, make, move, play, improve, explore, taste and more...NCE has a class for you!
NCE Middle School Programs
Needham Community Education’s NCE Elementary program offers a wide array of after school classes at each elementary school at the end of the school day.
Summer Explorations 2025
Health and Wellness
Exercise and recreation classes
Fine arts and crafts
DYI, home, garden and skills classes
Humanities and science programs
Investment and financial planning classes
Parenting programs
Learn to play a game or improve your game skills
SSAT, SAT prep, PSAT prep, and prep school, college and grad school application related programs for students and parents.
NCE Elementary After School Classes for Broadmeadow Students
NCE Elementary After School Classes for Eliot Students
NCE Elementary After School Classes for Mitchell Students
NCE Elementary After School Classes for Newman Students
NCE Elementary After School Classes at Sunita WIlliams
NCE Kids' Late Afternoon and Evening Classes
NCE Kids Virtual Classes
Private Music Lessons
The pepper world has been exploding, whether for cooking, to prepare hot sauces, or in a myriad of pepper related products such as relishes and jams. We will embark on a capsaicin-fueled Tour de Force, from the common jalapeno, chipotle and Tabasco pepper to the heart racing Ghost and Carolina Reaper – and many in between. A true evening of botany meeting food science and chemistry! To balance out these strong flavors, we will enjoy a wide range of beer cheeses from both the US and Europe, such as Vermont Farmstead’s Cheddy Topper and Sip of Sunshine cheddars to the UK’s Red Dragon featuring mustard seed and Welsh brown ale, and Belgium’s Chimay Rouge. The course will be taught by National Mustard Museum board member and botany major Ken Zuckerman, so expect to sample some surprisingly good pepper mustards as well. The common theme that will tangentially unite all these products is fermentation, whether producing vinegar, cheese or beer. As vinegar is such a crucial ingredient in hot sauces (and mustards) we will be delving into its intricacies as well, especially as it relates to barrel aging. Prepare for one hot and taste bud tingling evening!
Ken Zuckerman started as a Field Botany major in college with a particular interest in mycology (mushrooms).and backcountry first aid. While working in a variety of industries encompassing broadcasting, pharma, retail, manufacturing and the nonprofit sector, Ken has spent the majority of the past two decades in public broadcasting and marketing with a special emphasis in event marketing and execution within the food & beverage realm. He has served as head of marketing for a brewery, as well as Pete & Gerry’s Organic Eggs, and worked with a myriad of breweries, eateries and artisan food producers throughout New England such as Cabot, North Country Smokehouse and Jim’s Organic Coffee. Ken has also created and promoted food projects which have aired on PBS regionally and nationally. Currently Ken is Director of Marketing for a major Boston food distributor supplying the restaurant and institutional sectors, but also serves on the board of the National Mustard Museum in Wisconsin, which sports a collection of just under 7000 mustards! If it is a fermented food or beverage, it is in his gustatory wheelhouse. Other passions include the outdoors, supporting food relief organizations,and playing and teaching pickleball - which he readily admits can be noisy and annoying, both the sound as well as the folks who play and talk about it incessantly!
Ken Zuckerman
