Students Select Next Year's Classes Friday, March 20, 2009 By Zalak Patel - Advertising One of the most important parts of high school is choosing what classes you take. You want to challenge yourself with tough courses, but not so tough to the point where you're up doing homework or studying for a test for a course every single night. On the other hand, you also don't want courses too easy and ones that don't challenge you; colleges always look at the level of difficulty of your courses. With a variety of courses offered at Cameron High School, choosing what you want to take can be difficult.   A lot of classes offered at CHS are dual credit classes, meaning a junior or senior can take the class for high school credit as well as for college credit. Taking dual credit is optional, so those courses add more to the decision making process.   Junior Allison Gienapp is one of the many students taking dual credit classes next year. "I am taking a lot of dual credit classes next year to get them out of the way for when I really do start college."   Unlike a lot of students, Allison didn't think choosing classes for her schedule was difficult. "It was easy since I already knew what I was wanting to take."   Junior Carrie Bremer agrees with Allison that choosing classes was easy since she already knew what she wanted to take.   Junior Lauren Young sees it from a different perspective. "It was pretty hard because next year is my last year so I wanted to take good classes so I can get into good colleges," she explained.   Counselor Ms.Grossman also believes selecting classes for students can be difficult. "It's moderately difficult for students to choose classes, especially for those who don't want to take dual credit classes. It's hard to find electives and now with the new eligibility rules, students can't teacher aid as many blocks."   Another factor going into which classes you decide to take is what career path you want to go into. For example, Lauren said she wanted to go into marine biology, so she is taking courses such as Zoology.   Like Lauren, Allison also thinks taking classes related to your career path is a good idea. "If you don't take classes that will go with the career you want to do, then you will spend more time in college taking and completing the classes you have to take to get there," said Allison.   For college-bound juniors this year going into their senior year next year, they want to be able to take challenging courses so they know what level of courses they can handle in college. "I want to challenge myself to see how good I really am," explains Allison.   When deciding what types of classes to take, a lot goes into consideration such as course difficulty, taking classes that correspond with your career path choice, and taking classes in a subject that you are passionately enjoy. Choosing carefully is important.   It is also important to remember not to worry and stress too much about classes and to have fun and enjoy your last few years of high school. Lauren explains, "Next year, I want to get all I can from my senior year." Class registration is currently underway at CHS, so if you have questions about your schedule or need a list of course offerings, go see you counselor. If you're not sure about a certain class, go see the teacher and ask.  Take advantage of the time you have now and next year will be just as you wanted!

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