The choice between Irish Lit and Shakespeare is a difficult one, and now it’s time to make that decision as  students begin to pick their courses for next year. As class scheduling options for current sophomores and juniors start to open up, a slightly different approach will be taken to ensure that the process goes smoothly and easily. New Assistant Principal for Academics Kevin Foy is moving the signups to an online form to increase efficiency and accuracy.

In years past, the full sophomore and junior classes would convene separately at class meetings to begin planning for the following year’s courses, receiving a rundown on the choices and the process. Then, the students would complete a fill-in-the-blank-style sheet with their class choices, and gather signatures from teachers marking their approval. 

“What we’re trying to do now is separate a little bit more by class, and ask each department to do more specific education about what next year’s electives look like,” explained Foy. “We’re really trying to get students to make really good, informed decisions that are lined up with a more strategic plan built with counselors and their long-term goals.”

To get the ball rolling, counselors have begun one-on-one sessions to discuss class choices and a plan with students to guarantee that each student gets guidance from his counselor. In these meetings, the counselors and students discuss various facets of their current interests and possible future careers. That way, their course selections will be tailored to their specific needs. 

Furthermore, as juniors move through the process of choosing their classes, their current teachers have been working to provide them with a picture of their options for next year. In some cases, the teachers have given brief explanations of the various choices, and then in others, the senior teachers have visited to describe their classes. 

“(The presentations) just give the students an opportunity to see everything that's available to them, and to really be able to pick the courses that they feel are the best fit for them for senior year,” said Counseling Department Chair Mary Michalski.

So far, students have been receiving these new changes positively in how efficient yet simplistic the process is.

“I really like what they've been doing with introducing classes to us,” said junior Brock Johnson. “I like them going into more depth rather than just surface level, because then it really allows students to ask, ‘hey, is this for me, or is it not?’ So I think that's something they've done a lot better this year is really educating us on the classes.” 

This new process should help the scheduling process to run more smoothly this coming year, and the individualized nature of it will allow students to form a schedule that works best for them.

“There’s obviously some confusion whenever you change things from one year to the next, but I really do believe that this is going to make for a clearer and better selection process that makes it more likely that students wind up in the correct classes,” said Foy.

Junior registration for next year’s classes is due on Feb. 22, current sophomores on March 9, and the current freshmen on April 28.