The history department has been anxious about getting the word out about the new electives they are adding to their class selections.

“I think it would be nice,” history teacher Tracy Castillo said, “to have something regarding the electives we offer.”

Freshmen

The electives available to the freshmen are:

American Women, which is a semester long course that explores the role of the American woman in our country’s past as well as the hardships of the private life of the American woman in the U.S. as opposed to her public life.

The other elective available is African-American History, which is also a semester-long course that emphasizes the important achievements of African people throughout history and their role as they contributed to societies past and present.

Both of these electives serve as a half credit.

Sophomores

The same electives are available to sophomores as to freshmen, still only providing a half credit.

Juniors

American Women and African-American History are available to juniors, as are many other electives:

Anthropology is one semester and provides a half credit. In this class, students study the areas of the human origin: physical characteristics, distribution, classification, and relationships of races; social and environmental elements; and culture.

Exploring Social Justice, which is two semesters long and provides a full credit. Within this class, students will gain the ability to understand and analyze struggles and inequalities associated with ability, age, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity and class.

Sociology is one semester providing a half credit. Students will learn the forms, functions and institutions of human groups as well as studies on family relationships.

And lastly, there is Psychology or AP Psychology, both of which are two semesters long and offer a full credit, where students will study the mind, consciousness, and behavior. Students will learn and apply basic theories of psychology, study the nervous system, psychobiology, perception, and personality. There will be great emphasis on the experimental method in relation to the study of psychology, where they will have to write and perform approved experiments in social perception.

Seniors

Seniors can take all previously mentioned electives, as well as another elective that is only available to them.

AP U.S. Government is a course only seniors can take, which is one semester long and provides a half credit. In this course, students will focus on the federal level of the American political system. This course is equivalent to a college course, but you won’t necessarily get college credit for it.

So if you are looking to expand your knowledge of history, talk to the counselor about adding an elective for next year or even this year, because there are definitely a lot to choose from.