New electives appeal to different interests

    AHS currently provides a wide selection of courses for students to choose from. Unfortunately the job market these courses are designed to prepare students for is even wider. In response to this, AHS will be expanding its list of available classes for the next school year in order to better prepare students for their future careers.

    In the area of social studies, two new courses will be made available. IB Social Anthropology will offer a chance for students to learn about and explore cultures and the influences they have had on humanity. It will study various types of societies and cultures created throughout human history and examine how they have affected societies today. 

    “It seems like an interesting course,” said sophomore Mariam Khadroui who is considering taking the course.

    Junior Claire Garney, is also considering taking the class because, “I like the social studies and I like history and this is another option. I’m also kind of considering doing that kind of thing in college.”

    A variation on the Theory of Knowledge course will also be available next year. Students will have the option of taking TOK (Theory of Knowledge) as an after school activity for class credits, leaving the otherwise occupied elective slot open. Students interested in taking other electives will then have that option while still pursuing the IB level diploma.

    “With the IB diploma I don’t get a chance to take the electives I want during school,” explains junior Spencer Smith. “Taking it [Theory of Knowledge] after school frees up an entire elective space.”

    Two more academy courses will also be added. Both are in response to the growing demand for technologically adroit individuals in the business market. The first, Computer Tech Preparation Level Two, is a continuation of the already available level one course.

    The second, Broadcast Journalism, offers another chance for students to pursue and prepare for a career in journalism, however, from a different angle than the film, photo, or written journalistic classes already offered.

    The final new academy class to be offered is construction management. This off campus class is designed to ready students for the futures in growing construction industry. Both the technical and personal sides, such as management, of construction are studied. The entire construction process is scrutinized and learned by students within the course.

    A final new class being that will be offered beginning in the 2008-2009 school year is the family and life science course known as Teacher Cadet. This course, entirely different from any other course currently offered, teaches students how to teach.

    Students begin by working directly with a teacher similarly to an intern to learn various teaching techniques. The hands-on method of study starts students as a basic teacher’s aid and eventually has them teaching entire curriculums of information to other students. The class will require a 3.0 GPA and a teacher recommendation from students wishing to enroll.

    With a world full of diverse jobs, students could not hope to be readied with an education of simply core classes like science, English, math, and history. By expanding the selection of courses to widen this core, as well as providing a broadened list of choices for electives, the AHS staff has made a more fulfilling and specified education available to AHS students.