By Uy Pham
With Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) students beginning the process of meeting with their counselors to select classes, students will have the option to select several new courses. Meeting a variety of students’ interests, the new classes will include the Honors/Model United Nations (MUN) pathway, Creative Drawing & Painting, Medical Careers and Health Systems and Robotics 2.
Before choosing these courses, students should consider how the course relates to their educational and career needs. Here’s some information regarding each class.
Honors/MUN Pathway
As an alternative to the AP and general history pathways, students can select the Honors/MUN pathway for their social science requirement. From freshman to senior year, students will take a history class that mixes both history curriculum and participation in MUN.
At MUN conferences hosted by local high schools and colleges, students represent one of the United Nations’ 193 member states to debate and develop solutions to current global issues.
“We get to learn about the real world, real-time problems… [and] expand our knowledge of issues, problems, cultures, languages and country relationships,” history teacher and MUN club advisor Kelly Ducat said. “Then, we go and debate with an arsenal of country policy and history to try and create creative, meaningful solutions to problems.”
The transition of the MUN club to an educational pathway allows for students to have more education and time to prepare for conferences while developing their collaboration, research and public speaking skills.
Students will be required to attend two conferences per semester with multiple opportunities to meet the requirements. Teachers have yet to determine whether students will be graded on their committee performance, but students certainly will be graded on conference preparation.
If students elect to take the corresponding Advancement Placement (AP) exam for their grade level, the MUN teachers, who also teach the corresponding AP class, will be able to assist in exam preparation.
Future goals of this class will be to travel to conferences at UC Berkeley, New York and even host a conference at FVHS.
“It’s been a rocky road of trying to create [this program] for the last five years,” Ducat said. “Finally, there’s an opportunity to do it and we’re all really excited about it.”
For more information regarding the Honors/MUN pathway course, visit this article or contact Ducat at kducat@hbuhsd.edu.
Creative Drawing & Painting
For students looking for an alternative to the Art 1 course, Creative Drawing and Painting allows students to focus on in-depth, larger scale drawing and painting projects. Students will not be expected to know technical skills but should prepare to bring enthusiasm and interest to the class.
“This is a hands-on course where you will spend [a] longer time developing each project,” Creative Drawing and Painting teacher Lauren Anderson said.
Students will learn foundational drawing and painting, which includes observational, shadow and creative line work. The goal is for students to learn how to paint large-scale, creative and detailed painting using watercolor, acrylic and oil paints.
As a part of the course, students will take field trips to museums and landscapes for live painting. They will also paint murals on campus.
“If your other junior high or high school art classes move too fast or are too easy for you, if you find yourself wanting more time to add color and detail, this is the class for you,” Anderson said. “You have to want to paint and draw like a master, like Bob Ross, to want to create something special and wall worthy.”
For more information regarding the Creative Drawing and Painting class, students can contact Anderson at landerson@hbuhsd.edu.
Medical Careers and Health Systems
As an introductory course related to health science and medical technology, Medical Careers and Health Systems offers students the opportunity to learn the basic principles of the healthcare field. The course will place a large emphasis on covering the different careers within the healthcare field.
“When you ask students ‘Hey, give me some examples of medical careers,’ they tend to say doctors and nurses,” Assistant Principal of Activities and Athletics Hayato Yuuki, who taught a similar class at a different school, said. “There’s dental assistants, optometrists [and] physical therapists. The career realm and the medical career aspect is huge.”
Although the course structure will be finalized by the teacher of the course, Yuuki foresees that every chapter will cover a different industry-specific career, including its duties, salary, schooling and potentially guest speakers from each career while building on principles such as anatomy and physiology. The course will also cover the responsibilities and vocabulary of the field along with practical experience in first aid, vital signs and emergency medical care.
Students will not be required to have much prior knowledge besides an interest in the medical field.
“I think the course is going to be great for our campus. I taught a successful medical academy at a different school [and] I think, for sure, it’ll be very popular here.” Yuuki said. “This is just the beginning stages, [but] it’ll be great for kids if they have an interest in the medical field.”
Interested students should contact Assistant Principal of Guidance Rachel Kloppenburg at rkloppenburg@hbuhsd.edu for additional information.
Robotics 2
The Robotics 2 course is an extension of the Robotics pathway for current Robotics 1 students or those who receive a teacher recommendation.
Building upon Robotics 1, students will expand their knowledge in engineering, control systems and automation to practice their inquiry and research skills. An emphasis will be placed on using industry-standard systems software and technology; for example, students will write session briefs using industry-specific language.
Potential opportunities will include participation in robotics competitions and industry certification for entry level positions in robotics.
Students can contact Robotics teacher Ryan Pham at rpham@hbuhsd.edu, but additional information regarding the course will not be available until April 15.
Course Scheduling
It’s important to recognize that these new courses will only be scheduled if enough students register for these classes. If students would like to take these courses next year, they can encourage fellow students to select these courses.
Even if students have already met with their guidance counselor to request courses, students can still contact their guidance counselor to make changes or ask for additional information regarding these new courses.
