Electives are known to be the more exciting classes that aren’t required such as Intro to Foods, Drawing, or even Chinese.  These electives had been the top picked by students wanting to learn something new. Such as the boring must haves, like English, Math, History, and Science to graduate from Hall High School.  

During the months of January and February, students can begin class registration for the next school year. These are electives aren’t necessarily needed, to graduate, but to fill in the blank spots in their schedule.

It’s known that seniors get top priority when getting into a popular elective. Even though there is a large variety of classes many had chosen the same class as their other peers.

When asking Mrs. King, the head of scheduling,  about the top electives, she said; “The top 5 electives over the last two years are Intro to Foods, AP Psych, Drawing, Ceramics, Chinese, Financial Lit, Creative Writing, Guitar, and Anatomy.  

Enjoy Drawing? This class makes you want draw from your imagination onto paper. It really helps build your creativity. While asking a student from Drawing class, Tom Evelin said “ I like the class a lot, it is very unique in the fact that in involves creativity and gives the room different interpretations of ideas. Also, it is enjoyable to draw, and relaxes me.”

Like to cook? Intro to Foods class explores the areas on preparing meals and preparing certain dishes. This class helps you prepare dishes in a certain amount of time. Students also take from this class how to eat healthy and make wise choices on what to eat. “Well it’s a half year class and you learn the basics of kitchen work,cleaning,using the equipment, how to make basic dishes,and what to use when preparing a dishes.” Nihar, a student from Intro to Foods.

Do you enjoy music? This course lets students learn about Guitars and how to play them. Students develop a sense of how to play the basics of guitar and further on expanding their knowledge by going on to play more advanced pieces. “My first year in Guitar, junior year was a great experience learning guitar for the first time, but when guitar 2 came. I just didn’t like it anymore, I just liked playing by myself ”. Jordan, a student from Guitar.

For the past two school years, these have been the most picked electives by students. But what about the 2017 to 2018 school year? The trend of past years somewhat carries through to next year. The top five electives for the next school year are “Anatomy and Physiology, AP Psychology, Chinese I, Finance Literacy [and] Ceramics,” as said by Ms. King.

Anatomy and Physiology is about studying the human body in full detail. From the different aspects of the brain all the way down to the through the digestive system and into the blood clots in the feet. “I’m not surprised in the least because it was a well anticipated and hyped class [and] to a certain degree it delivered. Good on the school for expanding its curriculum.” Thomas Carey, a student in Ms. Culmo’s Human Anatomy and Physiology, said in response to what he thought about the class.  Human Anatomy and Physiology was just added this for the 2016-2017 school year and it filled up quick. No surprise it’s one next years most packed electives.

One of the most diverse languages that hall offers is Chinese. Students throughout this course learn how to pronounce different tones and patterns from Mandarin dialect. Every other year students can even opt to go to China for a week and engulf themselves in another culture they’re not used to. Raza Naqvi, a student in Ms. Drazen’s Chinese I class said: “Definitely not surprised. Drazen is an amazing teacher.  The language department does a great job making the class fun. Not only do you learn a lot about the language, but about the culture as well. I picked Chinese because I wanted to try something new,” when asked if he was surprised that this course was in the top five for next year, as well as this year.   

Did you know Hall even offers Ceramics? Students throughout this course learn how to sculpt clay by hand or on the wheel. While asking a Miss LeFebvre she responded “ Well, I took this class sophomore year and now [I’m a teaching assistant] for this class this year. In ceramics, you do different projects for example creating bowls, vases, and cups. You can create your project by hand or by ‘Throwing the Wheel’. ‘Throwing the Wheel’ is [putting your work] on the pottery wheel. After you create your project you have to put it in the kiln,then you ‘glaze’ it, and then you put it back in the kiln. Glaze is somewhat like paint but doesn’t look like paint. The colors of glaze is dark but when you put it in the kiln it heats it up. The paint (glaze) colors becomes a bright color because of the heat of the kiln.”

Care about money, investing or even collecting in stocks? If that’s a yes for anyone of those, then Financial Literacy is for you.  Many people chose this class because it helps with banking,investment,taxes,and etc. “ I wouldn’t be that surprised because it’s the world’s top trend and everything involves some amount of money. Whether it’s buying something to putting a down payment on your house. It’s helped me by opening my eyes to a whole new perspective of learning and how to better plan my future money-related events.” Shameer Hussain, a student from Financial Literacy.

You haven’t felt the waters of the psyche until you dive right in with Advanced Placement Psychology. In this class, you learn about the biochemistry of humans and animals, different aspects of social psychology, and receive college credit too. Maggie Brown, a student in Mr. Marseilles AP Psych class said: “I really enjoy learning about how we are built physiology, and this class is very informative when it comes to detail.”

As you can see, Hall offers countless electives for everyone to chose from. Did you make the smart move and pick one of the popular electives? Or are you trying to get something new up there?