Two new electives have been added for high school students.
Yearbook, originally an Elective I course, has been expanded to Electives I and II.
“The yearbook needed more people, ” adviser Liz Leavy said. “We had a small group of kids to begin with, and with five seniors leaving next year, a small group would be moving forward.
“Lots of people were interested but could not join due to a conflict during Elective I.”
Senior and editor-in-chief Yanele Ledesma is the only student taking both yearbook electives. As an experienced staffer, she can help newcomers.
“The hardest part is going back to what we discussed in the beginning of the year and re-teaching it,” Ledesma said. “Managing both classes at different paces is hard, but everyone is starting to pick it up well.”
Six new students have joined the yearbook elective, with five making up the new Elective II and one joining the existing Elective I.
The other new elective is Digital Maker, taught by computer science instructor Fred Jaravata. In the class, students learn how to use digital tools such as Adobe Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator.
“The purpose of the elective was to meet the demand to learn these kinds of tools,” Jaravata said. “We inspire the kids to learn to use these kinds of things and give them projects to take on so they can learn the basics and move on from there.
“At the start, it was hard to get everyone on the same page. However, there have been lots of ‘Aha!’ moments, which have really started to progress the elective.”
Both electives are expected to continue into next year.
Originally, a third elective, dance, was added, but it was removed because of insufficient enrollment.
—By Arjin Claire
