As the new school year arrives, students are able to take some new classes. It’s an opportunity for the students to expand their knowledge and learn things they are actually interested in. This year there are some new choices offered. Three of these classes are Humanities Survey, Debate and Forensics. Humanities Survey is taught by Spanish teacher Sally Hardy. Debate and Forensics are taught by English teacher Tristan Carson. 

Humanities Survey is a class that talks about different cultures and countries. Hardy said students will get to be introduced to cultures they may not know a lot about. 

“We touch on religion, food, entertainment, music, arts and crafts, and dance of different cultures,” Hardy said. “We are starting off with Asian cultures, then we are moving to European, African, then Australian and New Zealand. In the 2nd semester we are going to do North, Central and South American. Students will be in charge of making an artifact that represents who you are, or what represents you.” 

The students that take this class seem like they are having a lot of fun. They said they enjoy getting to eat different foods and are looking forward to going on field trips. 

“[I’m excited about] learning about different countries and the things they do,” sophomore Brooke Beck said. 

Debate and Forensics was another class offered this year. The first semester of this class is Debate. 

“There are a lot of benefits for the students,” Carson said. “They get to practice their research skills, writing skills, and they get to learn about current events. 

The second semester of this class is Forensics. 

“It gives students the opportunity to be involved in a different program at school,” Carson said. “They get to practice performing. They get to read interesting scenes in plays and learn about poetry. They get to perform those after they learn about them.”

Students will get to practice the things they learn. 

“[I’m excited about] the mock debate next nine weeks,” freshman Sydney Zoglmann said, “just figuring out how to form the debate structure as if we were in a competition.”

Students who take this class say that it can help with life skills. 

“It is a good experience that you are going to use in later jobs. Hopefully we can get a debate team next year so that we can compete. You can enhance your skills of writing and public speaking,” Zoglmann said.