Looking for an exciting way to choose next year’s classes? Northwood’s annual T-Wolf Elective Expo, which will be held during tutorials on Tuesday and Thursday this week, offers students an interactive and engaging showcase of options.
Representatives from all electives will be available to answer questions, with core subjects—excluding AP Chemistry and AP Physics—featured tomorrow, and Arts, CTE, Dual Enrollment, PE, ROP, Work Experience and World Language highlighted on Thursday. Counselor Bailey Phenicie believes the Elective Expo can help students find out about course offerings and hear directly from teachers about what the class entails.
“Go to the Elective Expo and ask questions, even if it’s just like, ‘What does a typical day in this class look like?’” Phenicie said. “If you’re going to spend a whole year in the class, then it’s kind of nice to speak to the teacher that you’re going to be working with.”
Among the courses that will host tables is Horticulture, a class where students learn about plant care and personally grow plants. Horticulture teacher Bev Matsuda plans to display an array of student-grown flowers among other projects. Matsuda says her students learn an appreciation for the amount of work that goes into growing food because the class is so hands-on and requires teamwork. .
“We have to help each other,” Matsuda said. “We become like a little family. Everyone really gets to know each other and it’s just a really good feeling of working together. ”
That same behind-the-scenes cooperation and community spirit extends to the stage, where anyone can join Technical Theatre. Sophomore Alec Pham joined the class as a freshman because he thought it would be interesting, but found a community instead.
“We’re all buddies, we’re all pals and we all work well together,” Pham said. “We are student run. We pick a student tech director, the student assistant tech directors, the student heads, everything. And you get to do a lot of things that most high schoolers will never do. You get to tough spotlights. You get to handle the sound board.”
Other classes that offer interesting things to touch include Anthropology, with skulls typically on display, and Marine Sciences, which will show models of fish skeletons, shark jaws and organs of invertebrates at the expo in hopes of attracting juniors and seniors with an interest in the ocean to the class.
“I love the ocean, and I think my students can sense that,” Marine Science teacher Gabby Kim-E said. “Just having a deep understanding and sense of respect for our oceans, not just what’s near us, but globally as well, is a great experience.”
Check out these electives and more tomorrow and Thursday behind the Media Center by the 1100s building and near the lunch line.
