ELECTIVES, ELECTIVES, ELECTIVES!

DRAW. Student Ben Osborne working hard on his art project for AP art. One of many art electives available at VHS. Photo courtesy of Lucas Cusanelli.

Electives are often an enjoyable break of someone's day to do what they’re interested in and learn more about it. Without electives, students wouldn't be able to pursue what they have fun doing. Sometimes, students can even discover a new interest of theirs by doing an elective they wouldn’t have normally chosen. In more recent years, elective choices have dwindled more and more as VHS removes them. 

A new variety of electives could make VHS more interesting for all students, especially upperclassmen who might already be familiar with the current choices. We asked students electives they wish would be introduced at VHS, here’s some of the suggestions we got. 

A couple students mentioned a mechanics or trade skills elective class they would be interested in.

“...maybe other life skills to learn like mechanics…” Junior Kale Verleye stated.

“Metalworking or something like that, that could be really cool,” Junior Grifen Rodgers said. 

Other students are interested in expanding their knowledge of different languages.

“Learning more languages, I’d say,” Junior Kelsey Arteaga said. 

Some students are interested in starting up a company too.

“...like a life skills class that’ll teach you how to do taxes or start a company,” Junior Kale Verleye also suggested. 

Students had favored electives that used to be at the school. Mechanics, a wider variety of languages, and trade skills are all electives that used to be an option at VHS. To see which electives students personally favored that are still active at VHS, we asked students which electives they hope would stay next year. 

Some students are hoping that electives with more creative freedom will stay.

“I hope electives like jewelry design will stay, I really like jewelry design,” Junior Kale Veleye mentioned. 

“I really want to do ceramics and jewelry design,” Junior Grifen Rodgers also brought up. 

Other students are hoping more science based electives will stay in the catalog next year. 

“College Biology and Psychology I’d say,” Junior Kelsey Arteaga answered. 

Although VHS has a wide variety of electives, some students feel like there could be some gaps in the offerings. 

“I feel like we have a lot of art classes, and I feel like a lot of them are really similar, and I feel like we could totally either mash some together or switch that out,” Junior Kale Verleye shared. 

To keep VHS interesting for both new and older students, it’s important to prioritize electives and the selection the school has. A lot of our interviews brought up electives that used to be at VHS, which shows that the students at our school miss the older selection, or had heard about certain electives from family members that they wish were still an option. Along with this, the idea of mashing together some electives was also brought up to give more room for more electives due to their similarities. Students love their elective classes and hope for a wider variety of them to keep the options fresh and new.