During collaboration on January 30, the current NDB freshmen, sophomores and juniors gathered in the dining room to browse the variety of electives offered at the annual Elective Fair. From Visual and Performing Arts to math and science electives, NDB has over 20 to choose from.
All electives were given a station that was set up in the dining room. Each station was given a table, similar to the Club Fair that occurred in September.
Once collaboration began, the students were released one class at a time, starting with the juniors. They browsed around the dining room to educate themselves on the selection of electives by talking to student and staffulty representatives. Shortly after, the sophomores and freshmen were released and also had the opportunity to inquire about classes that piqued their interest.
The English department offers both Creative Writing and Journalism (I, II, III, IVH) as electives. For students interested in math, the department offers Computer Science at three different levels, which is required for at least one year to graduate. The science electives include Design Engineering, Environmental Science, Forensic Science, Introduction to Biotechnology, AP Biology with lab, AP Chemistry with lab and AP Physics 1. The history department offers many electives, which consist of AP Art History and AP Human Geography. Other miscellaneous electives include Psychology and AP Psychology, Yoga, Dance, Art (I, II, III, IV, AP), Sculpture, Photography, Graphic Design, Sports Medicine and Sports Management.
Many students were interested in AP Human Geography and the table was hosted by seniors Trisha Garud and Saba Ghane, who have both taken the class. The class delves into the geography of the United States and beyond. They complete many projects throughout the year and it sets a good foundation for students interested in history.
“For our final last semester, we had to make a slide deck explaining to someone traveling to a different country, all the attributes about it and anything that they would want to know if they were going there,…like population, interesting tourist places, the history of it, people who live there,” Garud explained about her favorite project. “We then presented it and that was really fun. We got to learn a lot about really obscure countries around the world that no one ever talks about. So, I quite enjoyed that.”
Creative Writing, taught by Esthermaria Martin, hosted a popular station at the event. The class has been offered on and off over the past 20 years, however, when Martin first came to NDB, it had not been offered in over 10 years. She decided to reboot the program and has taught the class since.
“Each unit has a specific theme and students are given the opportunity to write on that theme. There is also a lot of freedom for students to branch out with their writing,” said Martin. “We work on short stories, vignettes and also memoirs…We then end with a final project, which is a literary magazine. All students help publish this piece and every student gets a copy of their own.”
Many students were able to get a better understanding of what taking the elective entails and what to expect from teachers and former and current students.
“I am so glad that [NDB] offers this event. I didn’t know that electives like Creative Writing and Sports Medicine were even offered here as electives,” said freshman Lauren Buret. “I am so glad that I am going into course requests now knowing more about the electives that I am interested in.”
With course requests right around the corner, the NDB students who attended the event are more confident in their elective choices and have more background in the ones that they were most interested in.
