Doris Anderson says she has one of the best jobs in San Diego, and who could disagree? Every day she sees the joyful faces of youngsters getting their first exposure to science and technology at the Elementary Institute of Science on Euclid Avenue.

“It gives me a great sense of satisfaction knowing that we’re helping prepare these kids for the future,” says Anderson, executive director of the institute since 1988.

A former junior high school teacher in Ohio and Tennessee who came to San Diego in 1979, Anderson is excited about the institute’s September move into a new $6 million state-of-the-art campus at 608 51st St. The larger quarters will allow the institute to offer instruction to 600 students — double the current population — and to grow its paid, part-time instructional staff from 14 to 22.

The institute, established in 1964 by elementary school teacher Tom Watts, provides science enrichment courses for children 7 to 13 who are not receiving such instruction in their regular school classrooms. The program is offered during after-school hours, on Saturdays and on a weekly basis during the summer. The fees are modest: $20 a month for the after-school program and $40 a week for summer sessions.

The institute draws its students from more than 80 elementary schools throughout San Diego and boasts a hands-on approach to teaching, which Anderson says is one of the best science instruction programs in California. Construction of the institute’s new building was made possible by a capital campaign that started in 1996.

The nonprofit institute is operating on a $385,000 budget this year, but will require an infusion of new funds to meet its budget goal of $430,000 for next year in the new building. “When I go to my funders, I tell them they will be investing in our children’s future,” says Anderson, who holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn.

— Manny Cruz