By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

HOOVER—The Spain Park High School library offers more than books. On Oct. 7, the library hosted a sushi making class, led by professional sushi chef Kelly Viall.

During the class, Viall taught students the basics of making sushi, from what type of rice to use, to how to season the rice using rice wine vinegar and techniques for creating the perfect roll.

“What I guarantee you today is that you can have your friends over for sushi tomorrow,” Viall told the class.

Each of the 10 students created a futomaki roll and an uramaki roll. Students started by making a futomaki roll, sushi with nori on the outside.

Following Viall’s guidance, the students covered a piece of nori with a layer of rice, then piled it with slices of vegetable and imitation crab. They completed the process by tightly rolling everything in the nori.

Next, the students created an uramaki roll, the typical sushi roll with rice on the outside. Viall taught the students to use a sushi mat to shape the rice, nori and vegetables into a tight roll.

Throughout the class, students got to eat what they created and sample a variety of sauces Viall brought, including eel sauce, sriracha sauce and spicy mayonnaise.

Spain Park teachers got to join in the fun with their own sushi making class before the student class.

“We’ve never done anything like this,” Spain Park ninth grade English teacher Julee Rodgers said. “It was a great treat!”

The sushi making class was the first in regular series of classes the Spain Park library is offering to students this year.

“We just wanted to offer something unique, educational but fun for students, kind of out-of-the box,” Spain Park Librarian Casey Middlebrooks said.

Each month through April, the library will host a new class for students covering a variety of subjects, including magic, self-defense, raptors, painting, yoga and dance. Classes will be led by local experts and teachers.

“It’s contemporary things touching on all different fields,” Spain Park Librarian Marnie Utz said. “Everyone (leading the classes) is from right here, we try to use people that are here.”

The programs are designed to be fun, informative and introduce students to things they might not expect to learn in the library, Utz explained.

“We like to make our library a collaborative and open place,” Utz said. “It’s showing the library is not just for checking out books, it’s more than that.”