Westside High School Offers New Courses For 2020-21 School Year

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Aayushi Chaudhary

Westside will offer new courses at the high school for the 2020-21 school year.

For the upcoming 2020-21 school year, Westside High School will be introducing three new courses available for students. AP Computer Science Principles, which will be replacing Intro to Computer Science, AP Macroeconomics, will begin alternating yearly with Microeconomics and Adult Living Skills which will replace Life and Career Essentials in the FCS department. Westside High School Principal Jay Opperman said the new classes will present many benefits for students.

“Our goal is that we really want to provide great opportunities for students,” Opperman said. “We want to do everything [we can] within our resources.”

According to Opperman, the resources available are the limiting factor when trying to add new courses for the future school years.

“The big question as a school [when adding a class] is ‘do we have the human resources to support a new class?’,” Opperman said. “For example, [the appeal] with alternating the Macroeconomics and Microeconomics classes is that we can do it without needing more teachers by alternating each year.”

Sophomore Sam Dowd is currently enrolled in AP Microeconomics. Dowd said that he plans on taking the new Macroeconomics class next school year.

“I really enjoy AP Economics,” Dowd said. “It’s awesome that they are offering more learning opportunities within the [same] subject.”

Dowd said that he thinks offering the class will be good for the social studies department as a whole.

“Having [extra] opportunities will definitely get more kids interested,” Dowd said.

Opperman said that next year’s changes will not be limited to these three classes. A new math course for students who need more assistance, a more supportive math class within the special education department, a new journalism publication and more dual credit opportunities will all be available for next school year.

Opperman said Westside aims to offer students as many academic opportunities as possible.

“We are always striving to look for ways to make sure we can challenge students of all different levels and help students have a great academic experience here,” Opperman said.