The year of change

By Emma Harkavy

Change is happening throughout St. Mary’s. This coming year, many new classes are being added in effort to appeal to a wider range of interests. Find out more about the new course additions here!

The 2018-2019 school year is going to be a year of change. The English and religion departments are being revamped to add more variety to the classes and enable girls to have more choice in what classes they are taking.

Mrs. Ray, the current senior English teacher says, “For the past couple of years, we've been trying to figure out how to add more electives to the department because we believe that it's important for girls to have a choice in the classes they take." Historically, the only options have been for juniors to take English Language and Composition or British Literature and for seniors to take AP English Literature and Composition or World Literature. However, as of next year, there will be six electives for juniors and seniors to choose from, ranging from poetry to creative writing. Mrs. Ray believes, “by having more course options, the girls will gain more ownership in the courses that they are choosing because they want to know more about the area of study." Ms. Bielskis adds, “There is so much literature out there. Why not spread the love?”
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The religion department is also adding many exciting new classes in an attempt to further diversify the new curriculum. Rev Bush says, “After going to many conferences and talking about it with other departments, the religion department is going to have one class that will serve as a foundation, and then after that students can pick how they want to continue their conversations about religion.” She explains that the inspiration for more religious classes came from the Meaning of Life class saying, “Mrs. Ray and I have had so much fun exploring this new class and seeing how meaningful it is.” At its core, though, the restructuring of the curriculum is to serve one main purpose: to add “new energy in the classes.”
           
Still, change can be hard. And though departments are going to be different, many students believe it will benefit the school in the end. Arabella McGowan (11) says, “By offering more English courses, there is less pressure because it gives us more of a variety, and we are more excited about the classes we are taking.”  Ruby Liles (10) adds, “[the expansion] offers more room to explore interests and it appeals to the demographic of people who are very interested in English and people who are not as inclined at English, because there are more class options.”
           
Change can be scary, but exploring new opportunities is exciting. All of these new courses will enable students to explore new things that are of interest to them. What class will you take?