Electives are fun courses that students have a free range of choosing. Not only is it important to take core classes, it is important to find classes that you enjoy that are specific to your interests. With course selections for the 2024-2025 school year coming up, here is a list of electives that are specific to certain interests. These are not all of the electives provided here at LFHS, but are some of the most popular students tend to gravitate towards. 

If you like being creative…

Ceramics

Looking to channel your artistic side? If you enjoy creating pottery, ceramics is the class for you. In ceramics, you learn how to “throw,” which is the term for spinning clay on the wheel and creating various designs such as bowls, plates, mugs, etc. Ceramics is a very fun class because there’s so much freedom with what you create. Mrs. Doucette and Mrs. Thomas are the faces of this amazing elective! We would recommend taking this elective as it can be a great break from a heavier academic schedule. “For me, I like how ceramics teaches you to be patient and really focus on the small details. Although it can be difficult at times, it feels so accomplishing when you make your final piece,” sophomore Mia Konkol said. 

Graphic Design

If you have a passion for creating art digitally, Graphic Design is a great class to expand your creativity. Whether you’re artistic or not, it’s a very fun class that is relatively easy to catch onto and learn how it works. This is a class that you can go into knowing little about art and digital art, and do just fine in the class. The teacher Mrs. Bielski is a visionary, who fosters a super fun environment.

New Media

New Media is a class where you can be innovative and explore different types of ways to produce videos. Students produce meaningful media by learning and practicing the professional video storytelling process. This class is unique in many ways, and is available to all grade levels–from a beginner cohort to advanced students. Students produce various projects using professional cameras and tools. This class can help expand your creativity from a filmmaking perspective and may be something you really enjoy.

Journalism

Writing for Journalism and Composition is a reporting-intensive class. You publish stories for The Forest Scout, our student publication. While in this class, you have free reign to produce videos, podcasts, and/or just write. Just like big news publications, we pitch our ideas to the class every couple weeks to get feedback and share what we are excited to work on. There is also an opportunity to take this class for honors credit.

If you like business…

Law 1 (or Law H)

If you want to learn more about the justice system and how to follow the law, this class just might be the right fit for you. Through exposure to criminal law, students also obtain a better understanding of the legal system. LFHS offers Law 1, a semester-long, regular level class, or Law H, a year-long, honors class. Students are part of a mock trial in Law H. We recommend taking after Law H after Law 1 if you have little knowledge of how law works. Law Honors can only be taken by juniors and seniors, but Law 1 is open for any sophomore, junior, or senior. In Law 1, you learn about various court cases, watch crime shows and documentaries, learn about how the government works, etc. This elective also fulfills a consumer ed credit requirement.

Business Entrepreneurship

This elective is great for those who are curious about what being an entrepreneur is like. It also teaches students about the stock market, provides skills to successfully manage a business, and much more. In this class, students choose, design, and promote a product to sell and elect officials such as a CEO, Vice Presidents of committees, etc. This class is very fun, and is awesome for a broad understanding of how entrepreneurship works. Freshman Madeleine Axus says that she enjoys that there is “always a group project to keep things interactive,” and it “teaches you how to learn from your failures.”

Business Incubator

This honors elective course is a step up from Business Entrepreneurship as students create and fully develop a real product. You get randomly assigned to a group and start brainstorming ideas for what you want your business to be. Your product can range from an app to a service or even to a physical product. In this class you learn about the ins and outs of being an entrepreneur. By marketing, financials, pitch skills, advertising and so much more. Since it is a whole year course, you will be spending the entire school year developing your business and hopefully making it to pitch night, where your business could get funded to kickstart your business. If you do make it to pitch night, you get to continue through senior year in the accelerator class where you further your business. Overall, if you are interested in business and want to make your own company it might just be the class for it. With that being said it is only offered for juniors.   

If you are into science and math…

Anatomy

This science elective is a great option if you want to learn more about the body. In this course, you go in-depth about the human body such as the placement and function of different things throughout the body. You even dissect rats, chicken bones, and more to further your understanding of the body’s functions. This course can be taken for either one semester or for the whole year, and the information learned is applicable beyond the classroom. 

Computer Science

While in Computer Science, you learn about advanced data structures, such as stacks, queues, linked lists, and trees. You also learn the design and testing of various computer programs. This is a great option if you love computers and science. There are multiple different levels of this class you can take, such as different honors and AP levels. “It’s a great hands-on elective where you get to learn by actually doing, and Mr. Aronson teaches all of the levels in a very engaging way. It’s really nice for continuing interest in something STEM related,” junior Nastia Belova, who has taken multiple levels of the elective, said. If you enjoy science and technology, this course may be the course for you. 

Criminalistics

Criminalistics is a new science elective offered for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year. If you’re a crime junky, this is the class for you. It is the study of DNA, such as blood, fingerprints, and hair and fiber analysis used to figure out a crime. While in the class you will even learn how to process a crime scene and deal with evidence from it. This class is offered as a single semester class and may just be the most interesting class.