The now numerous science electives are a hot topic among juniors because of the vast amount of choices that they are offered. Deciding which elective to take has many more variables that should be taken into an account. The different electives are also beneficial to the teachers as well, and with more variety in the electives, more teachers will be able to teach what they want.

Science Department Chair Karissa Baker, US Physics teacher Steve Heilig, and US Chemistry teacher Mallory Schmidt expressed their feelings about the new electives.

“Now it’s more like the dining hall choosing what you want. People are doing physics in ninth grade, so we can delve into different things in the electives. The classes delve into the foundations of physics and the world, and the old electives aren’t going away there will just be more options to choose from” Heilig said.

“It’s allowing students more choice t explore science topics that interest them versus just taking what we tell them to, so they can fulfill the requirements. The science department spent a lot of time thinking about what the want and decide which classes could fulfill a goal we’ve had. Then it went to admins and they has to approve all of the classes. Overall I’m really excited because it gives me more variety in my teaching schedule” Schmidt said.

“Our goals were for students to have choice; so we tried to give students variety in subjects and choice so that students could look more into subjects they choose, They have more freedom to make choices about what they want. Letting the younger kids in the electives if the meet the requirements and have interest in the subject reflects those choices as well” Baker said.

Overall their excitement speaks volumes about their anticipation for the new electives and what they mean for the new science curriculum. Since the other departments in the school have variety in their courses it was about time for the science department to get their own electives and tie them into the new spaces of the Schilling Center. Since most of the departments have these electives it allows students to delve into subjects that they enjoy and with science, it will stop students from having less interest in certain classes and entice them into developing a real interest in certain subjects.