Life skills and world history classes for the 2019 summer school year are set to have the largest number of students in each class ever. Altogether, 74 students were accepted into world history and 98 were accepted into the Life Skills.

According to administration, the number of students was somewhat expected.

“We checked with the teacher and we had a meeting with the education foundation and discussed whether or not we were able to run this class with those amount of kids,” Principal Kevin Buchanan said.

However, the school figured out that they could make the class work.

“It was determined that it looks like it will be doable if we provide some support,” Buchanan said.

With 98 students total, life skills will not be taught in a typical classroom.

“We think that the life skills will be taught in the Pavilion. We will have seats out and all of the audio and technology and the video — it will be almost like a lecture hall,” Buchanan said.

World history will be in G9, but will also face changes.

“We are bringing in an aid to help Mr. Cook with a class that size,” Buchanan said.

DJ Cook, teacher of World History in both summer school and regular school, AP economics teacher, CP economics teacher and AP psychology teacher, also plans to make changes to how he runs his class.

“It will all come down to classroom management,” Cook wrote to the Talon. “With the large class, I will have to reduce or eliminate some of the discussions and activities that I usually conduct with my World History classes.”

Some students worry about how the large class will affect their experience.
“I think the large size is going to affect my experience because that’s way too many kids in one area to concentrate,” junior Erica Thompson, who plans to take Life Skills over summer, said.