This semester all of the students have had the opportunity to try out new skills and learn new things through the quarterly electives. Natalia Jurgenson and I have had the opportunity to interview some teachers and students from each elective to give you a better idea of what all of our high school students are up to during four class periods each week. These responses might encourage you to sign up for a certain elective next year, or you might realize that a specific elective might not be for you. Enjoy and keep an eye out for a second edition to learn about the rest of the electives for this semester!
Study Skills
Mr Bain
-What inspired you to teach this elective?
“I was told to help Mr. Ippel the first time and I really enjoyed getting to work with students individually and also be able to grow more of a relationship with them in a more relaxed class setting.”
-What is your main goal for your students to achieve?
“That’s a great question. To learn more responsibility and discipline because those are the biggest things that I see holding them back in their own academic success. I do think they are all capable learners, but for some reason or another, they’ve either lacked the discipline to do their work or the motivation. So, somehow trying to find a way to motivate them to be responsible and disciplined.”
-What kind of students would you recommend your elective to?
“I’d say students that have difficulty organizing things themselves or need someone to push them to be more disciplined in doing their work and getting things done and turned in, or students who just need a quiet space to do work because they’re too busy with extracurriculars after school.”
Natalia Castro-
-What was your motive for taking this elective?
“I wanted to keep my grades up and not have so much homework.”
-What have you learned so far?
“I have learned that working nonstop during the day is exhausting.”
-What is your favorite and least favorite part of your elective?
“My favorite part of my elective is when we can play basketball on Fridays and my least favorite part is doing the homework.”
Ms. Cole-
-What inspired you to teach this elective?
“To be supportive to students who need more time during the day to complete their work.”
-What is your main goal for your students to achieve?
“Using their time wisely, figuring out how to work together to support each other, and having some fun.”
-What kind of students would you recommend your elective to?
“Students who struggle to get their work done outside of school and work better in group settings versus on their own.”
Abdias Gutierrez-
-What was your motive for taking this elective?
“So my motive was I have to do homework and I don’t do homework at my house because my time is really tight and study skills is the only time I can actually study and that’s a skill, so it’s study skills, bro. So yeah, that’s why.”
-What have you learned so far?
“That with music everything is possible. If you have music in study skills you can concentrate so well and you can watch movies in study skills, so it’s like chill.”
-What is your favorite and least favorite part of your elective?
“Ms. Cole usually lets me go to woodworking to let me work on my desk and my least favorite part of it is when she doesn’t let me go.”
Sign language
Mrs. Randall-
-What inspired you to teach this elective?
“Well, I taught at NCA for about ten years and then the Lord really laid it on my heart to resign from NCA and start working in the community. I didn’t know exactly what I would do, but it wasn’t long before I met a deaf person who had been isolated in her home all her life. She was already mid twenties, she didn’t have any form of communication, and she was like Helen Keller, but she could see. When I met her, I knew that the Lord had put a purpose for what I was going to be doing and that was working with the deaf. So, I began working with her and I didn’t know sign language at the time, but I hired a tutor which took me about a year to find a person who knew sign language that could teach her. The person that I found to teach her was a former student of mine, who had graduated and went to the deaf school to learn sign language. So Raquel [the tutor] started to teach her and helped her work through her anxiety that came from being stuck at home her entire life. She was able to learn basic sign language and joined the school for the deaf which is Isaiah 29:18 Christian School. That was where she learned sign language and basic schooling and where I learned sign language as well with their Saturday program. Now, that same lady helps teach sign language to people like her. Through that whole experience, I became closely connected to the school for the deaf and realized how exclusive it is for the deaf because not many people know sign language. So, I had a burden on my heart to grow the community for the deaf so that they could have more people to include, to spend time with, to communicate with, and to enjoy.”
-What is your main goal for your students to achieve?
“That they will learn sign language and be a greater, broader community for the deaf to interact with.”
-What kind of students would you recommend your elective to?
“In order to take the sign language class you just have to have the desire to spend time with people who are deaf. You have to have a love for all people, people that are different, people that may not have a voice to speak, but can communicate through sign language. So basically it’s a heart position, one that loves and accepts.”
Cynthia Sandahl-
-What was your motive for taking this elective?
“I took it because I think sign language is something that many people should learn because it’s still people and many disabled people who are deaf or mute need sign language to be able to communicate but many people don’t take the time to learn sign language which is something that can be easily learned compared to another language and I feel like learning sign language can help them have a bigger community.”
-What have you learned so far?
“I’ve learned a lot of basic signs but it’s really hard to remember all of them.”
-What is your favorite and least favorite part of your elective?
“I love being able to go to the deaf school and just interacting with different people- people who are either just interpreters and learning sign language or deaf people who require the language- and see how they’re taught and just hanging out with them. I really don’t like how fast we’re going through the sign language dictionary. It’s a lot to process even though it’s relatively easy to learn, it’s still a lot to process because you have to memorize all the signs and just slight differences can change what you’re saying. That’s not ideal sometimes.”
Micah Bachert-
-What was your motive for taking this elective?
“I wanted to learn sign language so I can communicate with the deaf people of this country and I just think it’d be really cool to know sign language.”
-What have you learned so far?
“We’re still learning the basics. We just learned all the animals, colors, and numbers, and a few words as well, so still the basics.”
-What is your favorite and least favorite part of your elective?
“My favorite part would be traveling to the deaf school to see the deaf students there and interact with them and probably my least favorite thing would be not being able to communicate with them fluently yet.”
Anatomy and Physiology
Mrs. Stuebner-
-What inspired you to teach this elective?
“Students asked for it. I mean for most of my electives it has been that students asked for it. There were some that I wanted to do but most of them like anatomy and physiology were an ask. Biology and marine ecology were because I love them and wanted to do them and there’s stuff that I wanted to do that still hasn’t really taken, so I haven’t done them.”
-What is your main goal for your students to achieve?
“There’s multiple parts to it. One is that I actually want them to have fun with God’s creation and with science because I know that my core classes aren’t always fun, so I want them to actually be able to enjoy learning about God’s creation. And another is to give them sort of like preliminary overview information about the different classes, especially if they are going to go into any kind of med school program or anything like that.”
-What kind of students would you recommend your elective to?
“Anybody who’s interested in any kind of a career in science- engineering, medical, nursing, even like therapy or whatever- anything that’s science related. If they’re interested they should do science electives.”
Annie Baker-
-What was your motive for taking this elective?
“I really love physical health and I want to major in genetics so anything that is medical has always been really exciting to me and so I wanted to prepare myself for college with this elective.”
-What have you learned so far?
“I’ve learned a lot about the skeletal system, the integumentary system- which is like skin, and hair, and nails- and then also- I think there’s another but I can’t remember- but yeah, we’ve learned about different systems and also just like cells, and tissues, and just kinda basic cellular body functions.”
-What is your favorite and least favorite part of your elective?
“My favorite would be being able to make models or do hands-on activities and my least favorite would be… I don’t know. I really like the class. My least favorite would probably be something like just that there are quizzes. I mean they’re easy quizzes, but that might be my least favorite part.”
Rolando Vado-
-What was your motive for taking this elective?
“I really like the field of medicine. I feel that it would be an interesting subject for me to learn about.”
-What have you learned so far?
“I have learned a lot about individual cells, and individual organs, and I’m starting to learn more about organ systems right now. I just finished studying the nervous system.”
-What is your favorite and least favorite part of your elective?
“My favorite part of my elective is learning something that I have a deep appreciation for. Medicine is a field that I have really enjoyed since I was a little kid. My least favorite part is when it ends.”
Personal Finance
Mrs. Baker-
-What inspired you to teach this elective?
“I feel very strongly that I want my students to be confident, especially in terms of money and finances, and I feel like a lot of people make simple mistakes simply because they don’t know how things work. So, it is my goal to be able to allow students as adults to be able to be financially wise with all the decisions they have to make.”
-What is your main goal for your students to achieve?
“I think I just want them to be informed and have all the information they need so they can make the decisions that are best for them.”
-What kind of students would you recommend your elective to?
“I think that Juniors and Seniors make the most sense because it’s closest to when they’re going out to become adults. I will have sophomores occasionally, but it’s not recommended. I would say they should wait until their Junior and Senior year.”
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-What was your motive for taking this elective?
“Learn the skills and knowledge that should be necessary in school and that I know can be applied to my life.”
-What have you learned so far?
“Budgeting, renting, retirement, investing”
-What is your favorite and least favorite part of your elective?
“Favorite: You can work on your own time, so when you finish the work (which consists of reading, reading quiz, math quiz, simulator — all online), you can work on your homework. Least favorite: We didn’t cover everything I wanted to learn or go in depth.”
