Santa Fe offers a wide variety of classes to students; whether it’s an elective class or core classes, there is something for everyone. With enrollment season upon us, here are some class opportunities to consider.
Statistics: Santa Fe offers two statistics classes: AP Statistics and Intro to Statistics. Both courses are available to any student who has taken the required Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II classes.
“It’s an application-based math class that you can take and apply what you know to actual research and data collection in a variety of different careers and fields,” statistics teacher Nick Vincent said. “80% of college majors require statistics in some form, so it’s really good to dip your toes in that water before you go to college and are surprised by a math class that’s so different.”
Whether you take the AP Statistics exam to get college credit or Intro Statistics to familiarize yourself with the basics, statistics is beneficial to students who plan on attending college.
“I think it’s important that when you’re filling out enrollment forms, go to your top colleges, print out the degree sheet for the fields you want to go into, look at what math courses are required and make a good judgment based on that,” Vincent said. “If you’re going into something like psychology and you’re already taking AP Psych, AP Stat and psych go together. No matter what you choose, I’ll have your back and I will be a strong advocate for everyone.”
AP Art History: This class is a full-year course and counts as a required art credit. This class will look at 250 works total, ranging from 22,000 years ago to the 2000s.
“I love art; I love teaching about the Impressionists, Surrealism, abstract expressionism and all these artistic movements,” AP Art History teacher Drew Mcneil said.
The pass rate for this class is 76.7%, which is 14% higher than the national average. Any student interested in art should consider taking the course.
“AP Art History is such a chill class,” junior and AP Art History student Mia Barnett. “I’d recommend it to anyone who needs an art credit.”
Ceramics: Ceramics is a one-semester course that focuses on clay and the things that can be created with it.
“Ceramics is an art form, where it’s a very tactile medium,” ceramics teacher Sarah Fish said. “It’s essentially dirt, so it’s a class where you can kind of reconnect with that playfulness of a child.”
The class itself allows students to make functional and artistic pieces, which can then be brought home, in a calm environment. The class has prompts for each project, but still allows students to have creative freedom.
“I had very high reviews from my fall semester classes,” said Fish. “Students who really enjoy the class think that it was a very relaxing environment- it’s just fun to play with something that they could actually make into something functional.”
All art classes at Santa Fe, including ceramics, require students to take Art I, a one-semester course available to all grades. Students who wish to take ceramics but haven’t taken Art I yet can take Art I first semester and ceramics second semester.
Academic Team: Any student looking for an extracurricular activity that has both a fun and educational aspect, look no further than Santa Fe’s academic team.
For this class, students will be trained using practice games and quizzes leading up to the big “Quiz Bowl” where your team goes against one another to get the right answer.
“This program has been so fun,” Janie Ramsey, the current Academic Team coach said. “We get to make learning a game all the time, and focus on specific subjects we enjoy or need help with.”
Academic Team goes over subjects such as math, art, science, literature, history, economics and many more. The class needs scorekeepers and moderators in addition to players, so consider adding Academic Team to your schedule.
Theatre Productions/Intro to Technical Theatre: Theatre Productions and Intro to Technical Theatre are great options for any student who would like to branch out into the backstage part of theatre. Theatre Productions is a full-year course that allows students to participate in acting, backstage crew or both; Intro to Technical Theatre is also a full-year course that teaches students the basics of backstage crew before they crew an actual production.
Theatre Productions collaborates with KSFN Broadcasting to create informational videos on things like dress code and other school rules.
“My favorite project I’ve done in class so far is filming the advisory videos with broadcasting,” senior and theatre productions student Carmyn Beaver said. “It’s so fun to see our ideas we’ve made come to life.”
Intro to Technical Theatre spends time focusing on each department of backstage crew: set building, hair and makeup, costumes, props, stage management, lighting and sound. This ensures that students are confident in their skills before putting them to use in advanced technical theatre.
“Everyone who takes any kind of theatre classes are genuinely the least judgemental, kindest people,” Beaver said. “They make the space super comfortable, even when you’re performing.”
Students must take Intro to Theatre before taking theatre productions and fill out an application; there are no prerequisites for Intro to Technical Theatre.
Newspaper: Newspaper is a full-year course that gives students the opportunity to improve their writing skills, take photos, gain more experience working with peers and so much more. If you’re interested in writing articles like these and taking photos at school events, newspaper applications can be found outside of Mrs. Reichert’s room (144).
If you’d like to take any of these classes but have already turned in your enrollment form, you can still email your counselor to update your choices until March 14.
