The month of March is closely associated with the color green and the sight of students clumped together, bemoaning the collapse of their carefully constructed brackets for the NCAA March Madness tournament. March also sees students filing into the Registrar’s office to grab monochrome forms for enrolling in next year’s classes. When students filled out their registration forms this year, some struggled to choose from the large pool of electives, some of them continuing, some revived, and some altogether new.

The science department added three electives to their curriculum that weren’t available during the 2017-2018 school year: Topics in Psychology, Advanced Topics in Biology: Evolution and Ecology, and Physical Computing. When deciding which electives to implement, the heads of the science department sought out the advice of students. Surveys were sent to the freshman, sophomore, and junior grades, asking students to rate which electives from a list that they would like to take in future years.

“Whenever departments are thinking about adding electives, they 100 percent should talk to the students,” junior Sarah-Jayne Austin said. “It’s weird that we haven’t had a psychology class up until now. It’s a pretty big area of science, and it covers some of the holes that the other courses don’t fill.”

A number of students have expressed enthusiasm about the new science electives, among them sophomore James Leet. “The new electives are a great opportunity for students to expand on their knowledge,” Leet said. “Physical Computing seems like a great way to learn about programming and apply it to real-life scenarios. Psychology is also fascinating, as it explores humans and the most complex part about them, their mind.”  

The science department is not the only Upper School department adding new courses. The English department is proud to boast one returning course, Creative Nonfiction, and two new electives, War in Literature and Film and The Black Voice in America, which will be taught by English teacher Stacey Gibson. According to Gibson, the course is designed to explore the ways blackness presents itself beyond what is considered “American,” while also looking at some of the complexities of the black voice beyond literature. Austin will be vying for a spot in the new year-long class.
“I really want to take Ms. Gibson’s Black Voice in America,” Austin said. “I know I really like Ms. Gibson’s teaching style. I’ve learned a lot from her, and I feel like I could still learn a lot more from her.”

Other notable electives to be added for the coming school year include Creating Historical Documentaries and International Relations.

“Electives are great for allowing teachers and students to pursue specific passions that might not appeal to a whole grade,” Upper School history teacher Dan Greenstone said. “Electives might not be as crucial as knowing algebra or American history, which I think every citizen should know, but they cover topics that teachers and students are really interested in.”

According to Greenstone, who will be teaching Sociology of Sports and Creating Historical Documentaries in the upcoming school year, Parker boasts an impressive array of electives given the smaller size of the school.

School Registrar Matt McCaw agrees. “Every school has to have a balance between structure and freedom,” McCaw said. “There’s a lot available right now. I don’t see a lacking in the offerings students have access to.”

Electives are offered in every department of the Upper School, from math to the dramatic arts, and they’re booked by the Registrar based by and large on seniority. As a result of the preference given to seniors and the format of the school’s schedule, students are most likely to take a range of academic electives during their senior year.
“The options that we have senior year are just amazing,” Austin said. “It’s not realistic for most people to fit english, history, math, or science electives in when they’re a freshman, sophomore, or junior. Those really are only options for seniors because it adds too much to your schedule.”

But some students don’t like that they can’t begin taking elective courses until their final year of high school. “I wish that I had been able to pick my history electives sophomore year,” senior Chloe Wagner said. “I liked the topics we covered in my classes, but there were classes, such as Terrorism, that would have piqued my interest a bit more.”
Wagner is not the only senior with opinions about electives she wishes she could have taken.  “A lot of people complain about electives being full or not being able to fit it in” senior Vicky Escalante said. “I really wanted to take Computer Programming, but it didn’t work out with my schedule.”