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Clarrisa Arceo

Having taken Mrs. Bean’s poetry class last semester, senior, Alan Cobos leaves his mark by volunteering to be a TA for his first and fourth periods after finishing all his required credits. “I just really like helping out,” Cobos said. “Being a TA is really easy, there’s work to do but it’s fun helping Mr. Nevarez and Mrs. Overgaauw- I also wanted to make my last semester in high school chill.”

Beginning on Jan. 6, Downey High School students prepare for second semester and are taking new electives. From Small Business Concepts to American Government, Downey High students have a wide range of semester-long courses to choose from. With a fresh start in a new class, a few students gave their view on their new class.

Musical Theater and Advanced Drama student, Helen Rosario, 12, took Sociology last semester as well as Psychology, before dropping the class when she realized that she no longer needed the credits the class offered. When asked how she feels about her current electives, she explained her passion for theater as well as why she took the electives she has now.

“It’s my final year, and I just really like the theater and arts department.” Rosario said.  “I started last year when I was in the musicals, and it was a lot of fun, so I was like, why not just take it again for my final year?”

Previously an assistant for the counselor’s office and Appreciation of Poetry student, Alan Cobos, 12 now gives assistance to his Government and English teachers as a teacher’s aid since he dropped his Poetry class once he lost interest in it due to the workload and the rigorous concepts it entails. Once he was asked to describe his feelings regarding his new electives, he gave an explanation as to why he enjoys the classes he has now more than the ones he had last semester.

“The electives I’m taking this semester I feel like they’re super easy and they’re a lot of fun compared to the classes I took last semester,” Cobos said. “I feel like I had to work a lot in those classes and even though they were still fun, I feel like I just want to have a semester where I can just relax.”

Appreciation of Poetry, Film and Video Production, and Drawing student Nelson Mencos, 12, has remained in these electives all year long, and he does not plan on dropping them any time soon, for he only wants to improve in each of his electives. Thus, he laid out his goals in each of his classes when he was asked about his intentions.

“For Film and Video Production, I kinda just want to have the software under my built because I feel like I might need that in life and also it drives me to express myself in another way,”  Mencos stated. “For Drawing, I’ve always drawn since I was little, and I just thought because I haven’t really gotten any like professional practice or mentoring or anything like that, I felt like drawing could just help me learn it better, and for Poetry, it’s something I really enjoy, and I feel like if I delve deeper into the topic, I’d just come off better as a person.”

With first semester over, and second semester getting underway, students, such as those interviewed above are making needed changes in their schedules such as switching out of classes no longer needed or dropping classes based on a loss in interest. Whatever the situation is, students are doing what they can in terms of new electives to make this semester the best one yet.