Art History

Instructor: Luna Hutter
Elective grades 10-12
Students will acquire an in-depth knowledge of Art History through the ages, from the Paleolithic period to contemporary times. Students will learn to analyze, critique, and evaluate works of art in a variety of art media and styles in architecture, sculpture, painting, and drawing.
*Prerequisite: Art Foundations

Drawing 2

Instructor: Luna Hutter
Elective grades 9-12
A continuation of Drawing I, focusing on black and white, or monochromatic rendering from life, pictures, masterworks, and imagination. In this course we will learn to draw the figure, create portrait drawings, as well as printmaking.
*Prerequisite: Art Foundations and Drawing I

Studio Art

Instructor: Luna Hutter
Elective grades 9-12
This course is for students interested in a focused study in Art. This course is based on the student creating a body of quality artwork in the medium of their choice.
*Prerequisite: Art Foundations

Choir

Instructor: Margarita Castro
Elective grades 8-12
Students will learn basic music and singing guidelines. Students will also explore famous composers and musical styles of the Baroque/Bach, Classical/Beethoven, and Romantic/Brahms periods. Students will perform artistic work with technical accuracy while self-assessing and documenting personal growth as a musician.

Digital Studies

Instructor: Jennifer Reid
Required grade 9
A requirement for graduation intended to advance students from being computer users to being computationally literate creators. To achieve this, the course includes competencies associated with the field/discipline of computing, aligned to current trends in technology, provide problem-solving, reasoning, communication, and computational thinking.

Graphic Design

Instructor: Jennifer Reid
Elective grades 8-12
A course in the applied visual arts that focuses on the general principles and techniques for effectively communicating ideas and information, and promoting products to business and consumer audiences. This course prepares individuals in any of the applied art media including: drawing, painting, computer graphics, and others. Students learn to use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere.

Principles of Electronics

Instructor: Jose Saraiva
Elective grades 8-12
A semester-long class where the student will learn basic electronics circuits principles and have the opportunity to build circuits like: amplifiers, control circuits, etc.

Web Development

Instructor: Jennifer Reid
Elective grades 8-12
This course is designed?to guide students in a project-based environment, in?the development of up-to-date concepts and skills that are used in the development of today?s?websites. Students will learn the fundamentals of how the internet works. They will learn and?use the basic building blocks of the World Wide Web; HTML5 coding, Cascading Style Sheets?(CSS), and JavaScript. They will follow the steps to create a website by planning, designing,?developing, deploying, and maintaining of website projects. Students will learn and use?different scripting technologies to create more dynamic and interactive websites. They will?learn what it takes for a career in Web Development as they complete projects and create their?own website.

Participation Skills/Fitness For Life

Instructor: Desiree Gentry
Required grade 9 and 11
Includes exploration into various forms of physical exercise and sports, as well as a solid understanding of how nutrition affects brain, body and emotional functioning. Students will be taught effective ways to manage stress, reduce toxic load and how to function as a whole person in various situations and circumstances.

Academic Writing

(Language Arts 9)

Instructor: Angie Merkley
Required grade 9
The focus is on the structure of academic writing, including thesis, support, citations, and argument. Students will master the foundations of writing, grammar, and literary analysis. By analyzing text through a historical lens, students will interpret how these circumstances inform readers of the present world we live in. Students will practice their ability to communicate through academic writing, collaborative discussions (Socratic Seminars), and personal spoken responses.
*Prerequisite: Writing Foundations or instructor permission.

World Literature

(Language Arts 10)

Instructor: Angie Merkley
Required grade 10
Tenth grade English will introduce students to literature from around the globe. They will begin with origin stories, progressing through to prominent modern day literature. Students will examine literature through the lens of archetypes, mastering theme, symbol, tone, and style in multiple contexts.
*Prerequisite: Academic Writing or instructor permission.

Mythology

(Language Arts 12)

Instructor: Christy Hall
Required grade 12
This course delves into the themes of ancient civilizations and explore parallels to our modern social issues. We will interpret the hero through Joseph Campbell and Jungian Archetypes. We will analyze modern media through the lens of ancient works. We will also compare eastern and western thinking, deducing why our modern cultures can be so divergent.
*Prerequisite: World Literature or instructor permission.

Journalism/Publication

Instructor: Darren Edwards
Elective grades 8-12
Journalism covers a wide range of mediums, from print, to podcasts, to news. Students will get to present their own news stories in each format. Students will also be introduced to cognitive bias, types of appeal, and logical fallacies.

Academic Approach to the Supernatural

Instructor: Darren Edwards
Elective grades 11/12
Semester one of this class will focus on tales of the supernatural from a Folklore perspective. We will not be examining if the stories are true or not, but
rather what the stories say about the people and cultures that tell them. Semester two of this class will focus on the use of pseudo-science to explain ?proven? supernatural phenomenon. As with semester one, the goal of the class is not to determine if the phenomenon discussed are real, but rather, to examine the methods used to explore the phenomenon.

ASL II

Spanish II

Instructor: Desiree Gentry Elective grades 9-12 An intermediate level Spanish speaking and writing course. Will introduce students to basic conversational skills and vocabulary. *Prerequisite: Spanish I or instructor permission..

Japanese

Instructor: Nate Van Dam Elective grades 8-12 An introduction to the Japanese language through a look at the phonology, writing systems, and syntax. Throughout this course students will learn to read and write the two syllabries of Japanese: hiragana and katakana. They will also gain a deeper appreciation of Japan by looking at the culture, cuisine, geography, and history.

Geometry

Mathematical Decision Making for Life

Instructor: Jose Saraiva
This course includes mathematical decision making in finance, modeling, probability and statistics, and making choices. Students will make sense of authentic problems and persevere in solving them. They will reason abstractly and quantitatively while communicating mathematics to others. Students will use appropriate tools, including technology, to model mathematics. Students will use structure and regularity of reasoning to describe mathematical situations and solve problems. *Prerequisite: C or better in Secondary Math II or acceptable score on placement test

Secondary Mathematics I

Instructor: Amanda Gerry Required grade 9 Students in this course will explore fundamental concepts of Algebra and Geometry including functions, polynomials, triangle theorems, trigonometry, and apply them in various circumstances. Students will explore mathematics through technology and explain complex processes verbally and in writing. Students are expected to master Algebra and Geometry vocabulary and formulas throughout the duration of the course. *Prerequisite: C or better in Math 8 or acceptable score on placement test

Secondary Mathematics III

Instructor: Christy Hall Elective grade 11 Students will engage in advanced mathematical processes and notations to solidify concepts in algebra, trigonometry and statistics, including quadratics, rational functions, and logarithms and apply these concepts in various circumstances. Students will explore mathematics through technology and explain complex processes verbally and in writing. *Prerequisite: C or better in Secondary Math II or acceptable score on placement test

Statistics

Instructor: Christy Hall Elective grade 11 Students will engage in advanced mathematical processes and notations to solidify concepts in algebra, trigonometry and statistics, including quadratics, rational functions, and logarithms and apply these concepts in various circumstances. Students will explore mathematics through technology and explain complex processes verbally and in writing. *Prerequisite: C or better in Secondary Math II or acceptable score on placement test

AP Chemistry

Astronomy

Instructor: Jose Saraiva Elective grades 8-12 The course objective is to provide students with a fundamental understanding of the principles of astronomy. Students will learn about the Solar Systems, Motion of the Planes, Stars, Galaxies, and the Universe in general.

Biology

Instructor: A.J. Basile Required grade 11 This is a year-long required course. It will cover topics essential to the science of modern biology. These include biochemistry, cell structure and function, energy and metabolism, genetics, evolutionary processes, and ecology.

Physics

Instructor: Spencer Johnson Required grade 9, Elective grades 10-12 This course is designed to be a conceptual, non-mathematically focused introduction to physics and science. Some concepts covered include units and measurement, motion, Newton?s Laws, gravity, electrostatic forces, energy, waves, and the electromagnetic spectrum.

Zoology

Instructor: Spencer Johnson Elective grades 10-12 Zoology is the scientific study of the behavior, structure, physiology, classification, and distribution of animals. It emphasizes the study of the nine major phyla of the animal kingdom in life classification. This course will focus on these nine phyla and their evolutionary traits on how they are classified. The class will also examine the devices of evolution and how they have developed the biodiversity of the animal kingdom. Understanding evolution and its process is paramount in understanding the science of life and its discoveries. Also, the science of phylogenetics and cladistics will be a central focus of the class as they are necessary to understand the process of classifying organisms. *Prerequisite: Biology

Challenges of Global Power: (US History II)

Foundations of Modernity (US History II)

Instructor: Dr. J.A. Lewis Required grade 11 Foundations of Modernity is a one-semester (fall) course, covering American history from the crisis of the Civil War (1860) to the end of the First World War. Special attention will be paid to the inter-linked phenomenon of industrialization, immigration, urbanization, and world-trade networks in the rise of the United States as a world power. Students will explore the development of a unique American identity in the shifting of global frontiers and the rise of radical ideologies.

Sociology

Instructor: Dr. J.A. Lewis Elective grades 8-12 Introduction to Sociology is a one-semester (spring) elective designed for 8th ? 12th grade students. Course materials critically evaluate the importance of sociological inquiry in the era of globalization. Students will be introduced to the major thinkers, theoretical models, and methodologies of sociological inquiry. Course content will be based on the Crash Course Sociology channel on YouTube.

US History I (8th Grade)

Instructor: Joan Cartmill Required grade 8 Focus is 18th and 19th-century settlement of North America and early development of the United States. Topics include: European Exploration in the Western hemisphere, North American Colonization, American Revolutionary War, US Constitution, Westward Expansion, US Civil War and Reconstruction. Geography and current events are woven throughout the course.

World Global Culture

Instructor: Nate Van Dam Required grade 9, elective 10-12 World Cultures is a one-semester elective, building upon the foundations of World Cultures. This course utilizes anthropological and sociological methods as tools for students to understand our world. Students will examine cultural exchange, international trade, linguistic diversity, and global development using social scientific and humanities sources. Course content highlights elements of popular culture in global cultural diffusion.

World Global Culture

Instructor: Dr. J.A. Lewis Required grade 10 This course charts the origins of human existence from 10,000 BC to Columbus? voyage in 1492. Students will examine how unifying themes of world civilizations have developed over time through global trade, philosophical inquiry, religious diffusion, and the rise of Empires. Core content addresses the development of civilizations, the dominance of Asian power centers, and the rise of Europe.