News

New Courses Added to Curriculum Guide for 2024-2025 Year

Will Lawson, Journalist • May 1, 2024

Photo Illustration: Charlotte Hurley ’27 looks over her course options

As students explore class options for the upcoming academic year, new courses have been added across several departments.

For art, new classes include “Advanced Ceramics,” “Advanced Sculpture,” and “Writing for the Stage.”

For English 11th and 12th grade electives, students can choose from one of four fresh offerings, “Making Monsters: Do We Create The Things We Fear?,” “Bad Women: Wicked Queens, Femme Fatales and Final Girls,” “Power, Justice and Revenge,” and “Dangerous Desire: The Perils of Love, Obsession, and Passion.”

For history, the department is offering “AP Human Geography,” “Black to the Future: A Pan-African Odyssey,” “The History of Global Journalism,” and “International Business and Cultural Intelligence: Theory Practice and Communication,”

The science department is adding “The Science of Food.”

Below, The Gator highlights several of the new courses .

New Classes Offered in the 2024-2025 School Year

Making Monsters: Do we create the things we fear?

Taught by Kenley Smith, Monsters are still prevalent in many cultures today and have come up in many myths and stories. This course goes into depth about why humans create monsters, their origins, and why they are so popular in society.

AP Human Geography

Taught by Joe Iuliano, this course explores environmental consequences from humans, the techniques used by geographers, and how geographical features have evolved, and what people can do to help. This course is available to all rising 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th graders and has the potential to be a very interesting and exciting class. This is one of two AP classes offered to sophomores, the other being AP Computer Science Principles.

Science of Food

While food is something we interact with a lot, it’s not something we are constantly thinking about. This course investigates the complexities of eating food, its production and how it affects your body and the environment.

“Food is just an essential part of our everyday life. It’s something we do a lot, without thinking about it,” course instructor Cecilia Pan said.

International Business and Cultural Intelligence: Theory, Practice, and Communication

This new course explores the importance of knowledge about cultures and business. The class is designed to have students understand the cultural impact of communication, engagement, and cultural awareness. The class will also interact with principle of business including financial transactions, dealing with international business laws, and the difference between gift exchange and bribery.

Black to the Future: A Pan-African Odyssey

This class is focused on the history of African cultures, the contributions of African people and their impacts. Many times, these contributions and the history of African people go overlooked, so taking this class is designed to enhance understanding on this topic and will provide students with other skills that will be helpful to their studies.

“Its important to celebrate and understand the contributions of people from Africa, especially given everything they’ve gone through and the racism that is still prevalent in some parts of the world," course instructor Elyse Seltzer said. "I also think it is a great opportunity to practice critical thinking skills and learning from primary sources."

Students can view more courses in the provided Curriculum Guide, located in in the Veracross portal.

Course sign-ups are due to Dean of Students Paul Murray by May 10.

About the Contributors

Will Lawson, Journalist

Rachael Rosenberg, News Editor

Rachael is the News Editor of the Gator. She is passionate about creating unbiased news for the School community. She is a Creative Arts Diploma Candidate with a concentration in musical theatre. When she isn't writing, you can usually find her on a stage or reading a book.