New Electives at AHS

The 24-25 course catalog comes with some brand new electives!

Staff Writer

“I told the principal that I’m happy to teach history, but my goal is to teach and run an Esports program,” said Mr. Elam, the teacher of the new Gaming Concepts elective. His love of gaming inspired one of seven brand-new elective courses that have been added to the AHS course catalog for the 2024-2025 school year.

The Gaming Concepts elective appeals to anyone who enjoys video games. “Gaming Concepts is a year-long elective where you explore gaming and esports careers while playing games and competing in different projects,” said Mr. Elam. “[Students] explore esports and gaming business, art and animation, and graphic design. You will take a look at all of the software and hardware that components game design. It’s a little bit of everything.”

“I’m trying to learn how to not blame my League of Legends teammates from going 0 in 11, and I think there’s going to be a bunch of teamwork [in class] that I’m excited for.” said Lance Wang (11), a student taking Gaming Concepts next year.

“It is all real world skills,” said Mr. Elam. “Every single thing that we do is all about 21st century skills of communication, collaboration, and creativity, making you a technologically and socially well-rounded person.”

Also amid the new electives is Computer Integrated Manufacturing, taught by Ms. Wheaton. The class focuses on computer design and automating production.

“It’s going to probably be our funnest engineering course,” she said. “We’ll do CAD [Computer Aided Design], and we’ll have a CNC [Computer Numerical Control]. We’re going to be simulating a conveyor belt system of assembly [with] robotics arms.”

“I’m drawn by the idea of getting to actually use real life manufacturing processes that people do in the industry,” said Nivedha Radhakrishnan (11), a student planning to take the course. “This is a really good way for me to get a preview of what kind of work you do in that industry.”

As for how the course complements other existing electives, Ms. Wheaton explained that taking IED will introduce you to concepts covered in the course, such as CAD. “Those aren’t prerequisites, [but] they’ll make everything a little bit easier.”

Another elective joining the course catalog is Modern Poetry. The class consists of both analyzing and writing modern poetry from the 1920s to today.

“We’re going to be reading a lot of pieces, but really the elective is there as a space to write poetry, so it’s not as analytical as we do in an English class,” said Ms. Luong, the teacher behind this new elective.

Luong wants students to develop a keen eye and unique perspective for the world around them—to better understand oneself and their place in the world. It also improves their analytical skills.

“But the ultimate goal is to have students realize that they enjoy poetry,” said Ms. Luong. “It’s a way to make sense of what’s happening in your life.”

These new electives all give AHS students more choice in what they can learn from high school, as well as what they can take into the real world after school.

Caption: Ishan Gandhi (11) and Siddarth Devalla (11) watch on as avid gamers Vishanth Mohan (11) and Pranay Krishna (11) play Fortnite and 1v1.LoL in an attempt to find an academic approach to gaming. “I have been a crippling video game addict my entire life,” says Mr. Elam, the teacher of the Gaming Concepts elective. “The organization that I got the curriculum from is the same organization that runs the high school Esports League we compete in. They sent me some overviews of what the Course looked like, and it seemed amazing.” (PC: Royden Liang)