Course Selection at MHS

Each March, students from eighth grade to junior year select their courses for the following year.  Students are required to take English and math all four years of high school, while science courses are required for three years. Students also must complete two consecutive years of the same foreign language. Wellness, a combination of gym and health class, is mandated for freshmen and sophomores.  A full year of a fine or applied art is also required to graduate.

Some of the courses that fulfill the fine or applied art requirement are Orchestra, Band, Chorus, any art classes, such as Intro to Art, Art I, Drawing and Painting or Photo, to name a few.  Classes under the business and technology umbrella also apply to the fine or applied arts.  For example, classes like Architecture and Engineering Drawing, Computer Applications, Web Design, Intro to Business, and Practical Law can be taken to fulfill this requirement.

Every year, some classes are removed from the offerings, while new classes become available to students, generally upperclassmen.  The classes being removed for next year are Engineering Drawing, Architecture, and Computer Applications I and II.  Some of these courses are being removed temporarily, like Engineering Drawing and Architecture, because of expensive software licensing issues. 

Phil Ridley, a senior who has taken both the Architecture and Engineering Drawing courses is disappointed that they will not be offered next year.  He believes, "As a student interested in the field of Engineering, I see the value of the skills learned in these classes, especially because of the increase in demand for well-trained engineers.  The ability to take a class like Engineering Drawing in high school affords students the opportunity to be exposed to material that most other students are not." Ridley hopes that the class will be offered again soon at MHS. 

New classes for next year include App Design, Web 2.0 Tools, and Intro to Graphic Design.  Also, as MHS becomes increasingly involved with China, Mandarin III will now be offered so that students who took Mandarin I and II can further their knowledge of the Chinese language, a skill that will certainly be of use in the future.  In addition, AP French will be an option to seniors as a higher level option than French V Honors, something already in place within the World Languages curriculum. 

Every year, the course offerings change slightly, and every year students discover a new passion in an elective.  Although my time at Medfield High School is almost over, many more students will get to explore and enjoy the plethora of classes at MHS.