High school is scary. There’s fighting over parking spots, eight thousand pounds of homework, your classic bullies and mean girls. But scariest of all, the dreaded schedule sign up. The classes you pick will determine the entirety of next year. Will you like your teacher? Will the class be too hard? Will your worst enemy be sitting in the chair next to you?
Lucky for you though, the yearly suffer of picking the wrong class is over! I am here to give you a guide to picking your electives for the year of 2019-2020 and help you graduate while enjoying the classes you need to get you there.
According to the DCSD Graduation Requirements, you need 1 credit of practical arts electives, 1 credit of fine arts electives, 1 credit of physical education electives, and a total of 8 general elective credits to graduate. While this may seem daunting to achieve before you leave HR, there are many fun and beneficial classes you can take to get there.
To check practical arts off your list, you can take Marketing. Marketing is a full year class (1.0 credit) so you could meet all of your graduation requirements with one class. It is the perfect class for anyone interested in business, economics, and obviously, marketing. An extra bonus is that, once you take Marketing 1 and 2, you can enroll in School Store Manager and learn business skills up close. In order to join Marketing 1 or 2 though you must also participate in DECA. Reiley Vogel, junior, said, “DECA gives you a real life experience with business because at competition you have to role play business scenarios for companies and products.”
For a fine arts elective, Drawing and Painting is a good choice for anyone. Based on personal experience of not being creatively talented whatsoever, Drawing and Painting 1 does not take any prerequisites or past experience. You will be taught the basic skill and concepts of art, even as simple as the color wheel. This class is a great opportunity to take a break from your core classes and express on paper whatever new ideas come to mind.
For some, the physical education credit is the hardest to gain, and for others, it’s the most exciting. A class that will appease both types of students is Adventure Experience. This class is another great break from a long day of quizzes and vocab. Adventure 1 works with fun group challenges and peer bonding and ends with the indoor rock climbing wall. Adventure 2 takes you outside to the ropes course where you can challenge your fear of heights spending some time in the sky. These classes don’t require a whole lot of athleticism or miles and miles of running so they can be enjoyed by all.
Another great class that I encourage everyone to take is Journalism. Journalism can fill an elective credit, fine arts credit, or practical arts credit. It is a great class to prepare you for any English course you may take. Emalee Halliday, junior, said, “Journalism requires a great deal of writing, but it was amazing practice for all my other classes. I learned how to get to my point in essays and make my sentences flow better.” Journalism also fills the prerequisite for Newspaper, which is definitely my elective of choice!
I hope, with the help of my electives guide, everyone gets the holiday miracle of great luck when signing up for next year’s classes and don’t forget to pay attention to your needed credits!
Taylor Means, Print Editor
