Underclassmen and their parents or guardians should be aware that the 2012-2013 Program of Studies for Old Rochester Regional High School is now available on the school’s website. For the second year, the multi-page document has been posted online in order to limit the school’s paper consumption. In prior times, the document was printed and stapled for every student in the high school and distributed during homeroom. Now, the document can be accessed by students throughout the year and as much or as little as needed – although all students are encouraged to read the entire document and familiarize themselves with graduation requirements, college requirements, and the course descriptions.
The document has been released to students and parents this week because underclassmen will be speaking with their teachers about placement in classes for next year as the term comes to a close. Students will be registering for those classes fairly soon, and problems with scheduling should be completely resolved by the end of the year. Starting with last year, the guidance office hopes that all issues with the schedules will be taken care of before students leave for summer vacation, rather than when students return for the new school year. Early registration for those classes is part of that strategy.
There have been noticeable changes to the 2012-2013 Program of Studies. First, the graduation requirements for the class of 2016 and beyond have been changed. An arts requirement of either a full-year class or two half-year classes has been instituted, with the intent of producing well-rounded students. Classes that are currently offered at Old Rochester Regional High School that would fulfill this requirement are: Art I, Ceramics, Drawing and Painting, Photography, Public and Environmental Art, Graphic Design, Multimedia Design, Architectural Design, Music Technology, Music Technology II, Beginning Guitar, Intermediate Guitar, Chorus, Band, Popular American Music, Music Composition and Theory, Theater, and Philosophy.
There were other changes to the 2012-2013 Program of Studies, as well. First and foremost, the popular Creative Writing I and Creative Writing II classes have been changed from full-year to half-year electives. The school no longer offers Art II; instead, students will progress from Art I to Art Major. In the Science/Technology Department, a number of classes have been renamed or replaced. Pre-Engineering was renamed as Introduction to Engineering. AutoCAD has been replaced by Principles of Engineering. PC Repair was replaced by Computer Science. Of the music classes, the only changes have been the reduction of Beginning Guitar and Music Composition and Theory to half-year electives.
There has also been an addition to the Advanced Placement courses available to students at Old Rochester Regional High School. From the Science Department, students may now study Advanced Placement Environmental Science. This class runs opposite Advanced Placement Biology and Honors Organic Chemistry; it runs with Advanced Placement Chemistry. For the 2012-2013 school year, students may register for Advanced Placement Environmental Science and/or Advanced Placement Chemistry. For the 2013-2014 school year, students may register for Advanced Placement Biology and/or Honors Organic Chemistry. These are the only science classes that have limitations on when they run.
Other than those aforementioned changes, the 2012-2012 Program of Studies remains exactly the same. Students are advised to familiarize themselves with the document, however, especially the incoming freshmen.
By Anne Smith