By the next school year, students will have the opportunity to take a new course on campus: Psychology. It’s the alternate, non-advanced version of AP Psychology.
“ is so popular for number of reasons. I think Mr. Garcia makes it interesting. You know, students want to sign up, at the same time, the AP rigor of every AP class is very challenging,” Principal Charles Park said.
Due to its popularity, the AP psychology course is in a lot of students’ schedules. However, for students who want to take psychology without the rigor of an AP environment, the addition of normal Psychology is an extra option for those who take interest in psychology.
In addition to Psychology, there is a possibility that two more courses will be added. The counselors sent out an interest form through English teachers’ Google Classrooms on Jan. 27 to see if students would be interested in taking AP Business with Personal Finance or AP Cybersecurity.
To add the courses officially, the school needs to see students’ interests.
“70 to 80% interest for us to even propose them as a possible ,” Vice Principal Josefina Steinmetz said.
According to College Board, AP Business with Personal Finance is a course designed to help students “gain knowledge and skills they’ll need to grow their careers, manage money, and get a head start toward the most popular college major in the U.S.”
AP Cybersecurity is described as “a broad introduction to the field that offers students the opportunity to earn college credit and an employer-endorsed credential.” Both classes are part of College Board’s new AP Career Kickstart courses, which allows high school students to get a head start on career paths such as finance or technological jobs.
“I think more are doing some version of being an entrepreneur …Side hustle or full-time businesses… so I think having high school students learn… what it takes to run a business ” Counselor Neal Nakano said.
There are potentially going to be three new courses next year. This would expand the school’s existing course list, allowing students for more variety. One new class: Psychology is confirmed, and students can sign up for it during course selection.
