• Favorite class? Teacher?

Creative Writing, Mr. Humeniuk  

• Why?

“I write so much. I’m constantly thinking about the stories in my head and all my plans and sometimes I’m just writing a full-on narrative inside of my head as I’m actively doing something else–or if I’m just sitting down doing nothing, then I just start writing mentally. So, [Creative Writing] kinda gave me an outlet for that, ‘cause I never got any real, professional, formal writing classes before and this actually taught me how to write well. Which is good because I’ve written an average of more than a thousand words a week for the past several years so I’m pretty good at writing, but this helped me get better at longer pieces.”

• When did you take it?

“I’m the only sophomore.”

• Favorite memory?

“It wouldn’t make sense, but, basically, Mr. Humeniuk is a really cool teacher and he’s really funny, so we have a lot of inside jokes in that class. And I wrote a little story compiling all of those jokes and I gave it to him as a Christmas gift. And then he read it out loud to the entire class and everyone was laughing, I was laughing, he was laughing; it was really funny and it was great.” 

• What made you want to take the class?

“So, okay, I’ve always loved creative writing but, also, half my friends and siblings were FIFE (TWHS art/literary magazine) editors, so I’ve been to a total of one FIFE meeting. And, they had told me about Mr. Humeniuk and they said that ‘you need to take a class with him’ and I’m like ‘okay,’ so I took creative writing. Especially because I had an opening in my schedule, so, I was like, I might as well and I don’t regret it one bit.”

• Is this something you would want to do as a career or hobby?

“I already do it as a hobby, but the absolute dream would be to be a professional writer, it’s just kind of hard because being a writer doesn’t pay much; that’s not really in the stars.”

• Would you recommend this class to anyone thinking about taking it?

“Yes, everyone should take creative writing, it’ll be so much fun.”

• Favorite class? Teacher?

AP Literature (AP English IV), Mr. Feudo

• Why?

“I find Mr. Feudo’s teaching style to be very engaging, he likes to weave in a lot of humor and he’s also a little dramatic and very eccentric, and I always think that’s fun. Also, I have one of my best friends in his class, so I’m pretty happy.”

• When did you take it?

“This year, yeah.”

• Favorite memory?

“Once, he was being dramatic and he, like, flung himself over his lectern and his legs were up in the air, ‘cause he was, like, ‘if you don’t turn in this assignment the day it’s due and get a zero, even though it’s a completion grade major, I’m giving you eight extra days to do it.’”

• What made you want to take the class?

“I took AP Lang (AP English III) with Ms. Herrin and I enjoyed it, I thought it was great; I loved her, I loved AP English and I was, like, ‘wow, this is a great course’. Although, I think AP Lit is definitely more similar to sophomore year English, in which case I have to thank Mrs. Harrington.”

• Is this something you would want to do as a career or hobby?

“Probably, I mean, I journal for fun at home, so sometimes I sneak a little AP English vocab into my journals. I don’t know, maybe for fun, if I ever considered writing–there are no plans at the moment, but you never know.”

• Would you recommend this class to anyone thinking about taking it?

“Oh yeah, I think it’s fun–I think it’s pretty transferable as well, all of the skills. I find that being good at English makes history infinitely easier.”

• Favorite class? Teacher?

Dual-Credit US History (DCUSH), Mrs. Cappolino

• Why?

“I took US History in 8th grade, which was all fun and games, but it was an honors class and they were just basically doing shallow notes. Whereas Mrs. Cappillino goes really deep into it and, so, I like how they go deeper than honors classes–and I’m not sure how AP works.”

• When did you take it?

“This year, yes.”

• Favorite memory?

“Probably the relay game that we did–trashket ball, or whatever–I was never able to throw any shots, but it was funny. All the sports kids won, but a lot of people got half the trivia questions wrong; it was so funny!”

• What made you want to take the class?

“Uh, I just wanted something different! I liked honors classes, but I felt like I wasn’t getting enough out of it. I just like DCUSH just because I like a challenge and I want to try something different and I did not feel like taking AP. I didn’t realize you only had to pay for the test for AP classes, so I feel completely duped but I’m loving that I got duped!”

• Is this something you would want to do as a career or hobby?

“Maybe a career if I ever get into a historian kinda job, maybe? But, I’m going into languages–if I learn linguistics–then maybe history would be…My goal is to become a translator, but I don’t know if historical stuff will be helpful.”

• Would you recommend this class to anyone thinking about taking it?

“If you’re a history geek, but too scared to take the AP classes, then yes!”

• Favorite class? Teacher?

Theater Productions, Mr. Peters

• Why?

“I like it, I have a lot of friends there and I get to work on whatever I need to work on for whatever theater show we are doing. Um, and it just really gives me a chance to get some things done that I need too and stay on top of everything.”

• When did you take it?
  “I took it this year and last year.”

• Favorite memory?

“So, every Friday we have the class, we do this thing called Fun Friday, and, so, different students will take Fun Friday and do something with it. And, I remember, there was one time last year where one of the girls took it and she did–we made slime. We had a little slime making party, and then afterwards we played hide-and-seek throughout the entire theater department space. And Mr. Peters was the person who was looking and I almost won but then someone ratted me out.”

• What made you want to take the class?
  “Um, I was told it’d be really good if I wanted to be a tech head for the theater department because it gives you time to work on whatever job you’re working on for the show and time to discuss with Mr. Peters about what he needs from you for that particular show.”

• Is this something you would want to do as a career or hobby?

“I think that it could definitely be a hobby. I do costuming and I love to sew, and that’s definitely going to be something that stays with me through my entire life in whatever means it comes to me; however, I don’t intend to pursue theater as a career.” 

• Would you recommend this class to anyone thinking about taking it?

“Definitely, everyone’s really nice and you get to meet a whole bunch of people who are involved in the department and hang out with them and get to know them better; you really can’t go wrong with it.”

• Favorite class? Teacher?

Engineering II, Mrs. Amedee

• Why?

“I don’t know if I want to do engineering or not, but they teach you a bunch of stuff–I have certificates for the things we learn, as well. So, if I don’t go to college, I can enter a high paying job, like, right out of high school, and that rocks!” 

• When did you take it?

“I’m taking it right now.”

• Favorite memory?

“This is terribly off topic, but one of my friends brought a costume the last day of school, so we had a photoshoot and we all took turns–we had a human pyramid and poses, it was a blast! It had nothing to do with engineering, but it was fun.”

• What made you want to take the class?
  “I just took it ‘cause it sounded fun and it was indeed very, very fun and it’s a double-block for the second year you take it, which rocks ‘cause you get to see your friends every day.”

• Is this something you would want to do as a career or hobby?

“Yeah, definitely, it’s Plan B for anything I do.”

• Would you recommend this class to anyone thinking about taking it?

“Everyone, even if you’re not. It’s like, it can be super fun and pretty easy, if you want it too.”

• Favorite class? Teacher?

Dual-Credit Anatomy & Physiology I, Mrs. Wilks

• Why?

“Because the teacher is super, super fun, she’s so nice, she’s really funny, and she tries to make the class interesting. And, uh, the topic or the subject is a subject that really interests me so it’s kinda easy to go into that class ‘cause it’s cool stuff that I’m learning and I actually want to learn.”

• When did you take it?

“This year!”

• Favorite memory?

“Probably when we carved pumpkins and gave our pumpkin a horrible skin disease.”

• What made you want to take the class?

“Like I said, it’s a topic that interests me a lot. My sister, she is in the medical field, so she kinda inspired me to, kind of, that same biology. It’s also just useful to know more about yourself and what’s going on in your own body.”

• Is this something you would want to do as a career or hobby?

“Not the medical field, but I want to go into forensic pathology, so it’s really useful for stuff along that vein; and I want to take Anatomy II next year so I can continue that path!”

• Would you recommend this class to anyone thinking about taking it?

“Yes, yes!”