Electives Night gives Class of 2020 insight into school programs

In preparation for their transition into high school, the incoming class of 2020 delved into the various electives available at the school during Preview of Electives Night, held on the evening of Jan. 25. 

Missing from the evening were performances from the music department, which didn’t perform to protest issues that had arisen over next year’s bell schedule.

 The night started with short talks by principal Paul Robinson, athletic director Tim Lugo and drama teacher Sarah Thermond in the McAfee Center. They discussed the importance of balancing academics with extracurriculars and getting involved in the programs available at the school, whether they are clubs or sports. 

Subsequently, students and their parents watched performances by the cheer and dance teams in the Large Gym, and then headed over to the Small Gym, where electives like world languages, Media Arts, journalism and visual arts ran booths. 

Other programs, such as speech and debate, which are not considered actual classes, were not able to have a booth, but instead handed out flyers.  

Sophomore Divya Rallabandi, a member of speech and debate, said that they compiled a list of emails of those who were interested so that “further on, [Speech and Debate] could plan a retreat to have the middle school students integrate into the program and get to meet all of the teammates and teachers.”

Assistant principal Brian Safine said that Electives Night accomplished its goal of letting incoming freshmen get to know programs at SHS.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm in the Class of 2020 to be on campus and to experience some of the real rich elective programs we have here,” Safine said. “One highlight for me was the number of students who helped explain the various electives programs that they’ve been involved with. I think for all those factors, it was a successful evening.”