As we get further into the school year, students are questioning their picks for classes.

Assistant Principal Christopher Ness said, “So if you were to add it all up, I would say probably with all the different people that talk to them. I bet it’s easily 30 minutes to 45 minutes because teachers first talk in their classes and then counselors call down each kiddo individually and talk to them about their classes. And then students choose to sign up apart from that and do it on their own they can even do it more. In addition to that.”

In the next couple of days, counselors will bring in students to talk about the classes they want to take for next semester.

“It’s not very often that we change the way we put students in certain classes. That’s kind of the way it’s been. I would say the biggest change over the last I would say a few years maybe, you know, three to five years, is just that we’re really making sure that we push students to take advanced classes, as opposed to just letting them say, ‘Well, I just I want to sit back and take a Gen-Ed class,’ even though they could take a higher level class. We’re trying to push kids more than doing that, as opposed to just Gen-Ed classes across the board. But for the most part, it’s pretty much the same,” Ness said.

Having a one-on-one talk with students and their counselors can get students better prepared for their future and their classes.

Mr. Ness confirms, “Let’s say a student’s teacher recommends them for regular US history, and they like to take AP US History. So what they would do is they would either have a conversation with a teacher, and if the teacher says they still don’t feel they should take it, when they meet with their counselor, or if they want to make an appointment with their counselor, they can make that argument for that I feel I should be able to do that. And so we don’t bar students from taking AP classes or flip that if a kid’s recommended for AP, and they want to take an on-level class, we allow them to do that, too.”

Counselors will be able to guide students to the best of their ability when choosing their courses for next school year.

“I think it’s good so they can have experience with picking classes so they can help the students figure out what they want to take. They have experience with picking classes so they can help the students figure out what they want to take,” Dashel Deavers (11) said.

Students overall think this is a good idea for counselors to individually interact with their students to help them the most they can.

“I think it’s good. I think it shows how the counselors care about how the students are going to excel for next year and how that’s going to work out,” Emily Fuina (9) said.

The school is motivating students to take advanced placement classes than regular classes. Students can still have the chance to switch their regular classes to AP (Advanced Placement) or honors without a recommendation from a teacher.

However, students might not believe they have an opportunity or feel as if they had less of a choice to choose classes.

“I feel like some kids do but others I feel like have less of a choice because of the path that they chose. Like, I know I’m in IB and the recommendations that they recommend are the core classes that my teachers chose, or like the classes that I’m going to get into next year, so I feel like it takes away from that opportunity. But otherwise, I don’t really mind it,” Fuina said.

The school doesn’t have much control over picking teachers for students, only the class in general.

Ness says, “So in terms of the teacher that’s random, so the computer actually does that randomly. Students sign up for classes individually first and the computer just randomly puts kids in classes based on size.”

Students have already been thinking about the classes they’re signing up for next school year.

“I was interested in taking the CCIC [Cherry Creek Innovation Campus] advanced robotics course next year and I’m trying to figure out how to do that with MYP because my counselor is really averse to it,” Fuina said.

Students have their own willingness to choose elective classes and core classes for the next school year.

“I think so. It’s ultimately up to them,” Deavers said.

Students must know the graduation requirements and they can do this by making an appointment with their counselor to get an organized summary of courses offered at Smoky.