As the school prepares for next year’s class placements, AP/IB coordinator Michael Ady is in charge of deciding who gets into AP classes this coming school year and is making sure that everyone who deserves and wants to be in them can do so, no matter their grades.

“I don’t think that’s a fair assessment cause sometimes kids can have a bad semester or whatever, you got stuff going on with family and so your grades slip there are all kinds of reasons why a student may not have a good GPA,” Ady said. “What I’m looking for is just someone who is willing to challenge themselves and take that risk,”

Some students feel overwhelmed about taking AP classes next year, but even with the time and work commitment needed the benefits are many and may be appealing to lots of people. 

“The flashy benefit is that you get college credit, which is nice because college classes are very expensive,” Ady said. “But beyond that, what I think is even more valuable is what you’re gaining as far as studying skills and thinking and definitely using critical thinking [skills], things like that. That’s what I think is really valuable because whatever AP exam you’re sitting for, you’re learning those skills and those skills are applicable to anything,”  

But AP classes are not the only ones that students are looking forward to taking next year, regular on-level classes may be just as appealing as higher-level courses. 

“I’m mostly excited about physical science because a lot of my friends say they have that class and [think] it’s interesting,” Ismael Gomez (10) said. 

Electives are also something a lot of students look forward to.

 “I hope I get my cooking class next year again, and a class with my friends,” Faith Glisan (10) said.  

The requirements for AP classes are quite loose, with some of the only necessities being the inclination to learn and dedication to the class. 

“You just have to have the willingness to, you know, take one,” Ady said. “There are certain classes though that do require prerequisites, like to get into an AP calculus class obviously you have to have a high enough level of math to sign up for that. But for like our AP English classes, or history classes, or psych, or something like that you just have to want to do it and then sign up and work hard and do your best,”