Every spring, students at Camas High School (CHS) complete the annual puzzle of forecasting classes for the upcoming year. Last year, multiple new course options were added to the forecasting guide. Some of those included Holocaust and Genocide Studies, AP African American Studies, Health Occupations and Astronomy. However, it takes quite a process to bring a new course into the classrooms.
“A teacher will come up with a class or a department that they might want to run, so they do a proposal for them, they get sent to the administrators, and then we look at it and determine whether or not we’re going to run it,” Associate Principal Tom Morris said.
Multiple factors go into whether or not a class ends up running. If the administration approves it, the course is added to the forecasting guide to see how many students want to take it. Administrators also look at where the class fits into graduation requirements and whether it would be able to work for student and teacher schedules. If these qualifications do not get met, then the class will not run.
Holocaust and Genocide Studies, as well as AP African American Studies, were two examples of proposed yet canceled classes. Holocaust and Genocide Studies was proposed by CHS teacher Jeanne Jarvis, and AP African American Studies was going to be taught by CHS teacher Stewart Morgan.
Originally, Holocaust and Genocide Studies was an existing class in the past, but it was taught by a teacher that is now retired. Jarvis proposed to bring back the class and put some new life into it by teaching it.
“I wanted to preserve the voices of people who were survivors, because I feel like that generation is going to be gone,” Jarvis said. “It’s using the resources to build a meaningful connection with preserving that memory.”
While it was approved by the administration and there were enough students interested to run the class, a few factors led to the cancellation of the course.
“It didn’t run this year because we found out that we were overstaffed by two full teachers, which is ten classes at least, and so they needed another teacher to teach another section of World History,” Jarvis said.
The primary reason AP African American Studies was canceled was due to the fact that there were not enough takers for it. While it is an AP class, it is not a graduation requirement; it would count as an elective course.
“The reason I didn’t take it was because I didn’t have enough room for it in my schedule, especially since I’m in DECA,” junior Esther Nyaturu said. “If anything I’d take it senior year when I have more space in my schedule, which is probably why most of the people who did choose to take it were seniors.”
While these two classes did not end up being run, there were a few other new ones that successfully made it to the classrooms. Health Occupations got enough student interest to run for a semester, as did Astronomy. Astronomy is another elective course, and it is taught by CHS teacher Dawn Gilbertson.
“The class is fun and interactive,” junior David Hval said. “Each topic is interesting in their own way.”
Each year, forecasting looks a little bit different. Next year, it is possible that some of these classes may run again and make a successful comeback.
