Ernest Seaholm High School - Piper Yearbook (Birmingham, MI)

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' ' Paragon is a good experience for k:ids to explore new h Orizons! ' ' -Ramsey Alsarraf Accelerated Students Go For the Top by M, Wester and L, Wilson For some Seaholm students, the normal academic classes don ' t satisfy their accelerated needs. Being academically gifted allows some students to enroll in more demanding courses and programs. Advanced Place- ment (A. P.) courses and Paragon are available for these students. Seniors, and a few juniors, are able to enroll in A. P. courses with a recommenda- tion from a previous teacher. English, Modern European History, Biology, Chem- istry, and Physics II, accelerated calculus, French V, Spanish V, and American History are the A. P. courses offered for students. After completing an A. P. course, a student can take an A. P. test to receive college credit. A. P. English student Stacey Springer strongly supports the A. P. courses. Even if you decide not to take the test, the classes are challenging and worthwhile! she explained. Other students that have an advanced study interest and a high grade point can enroll in Paragon, directed by Carol Wilson and Debbie Loupee. Paragon member Ramsey Alsarraf voiced his opinion on the program, Paragon is a good experience for kids to explore new horizons! Not only does Paragon help prepare a student for the future, but it also impresses college offi- cials. Students in grades nine through twelve are also able to work on projects such as the Quiz Bowl, Science Olympiad, and this year ' s cable T.V. show Mind Your Language! Havi ng the academic gifts and being able to enroll in A. P. courses or Paragon allows a student to get a head start on the future. In hopes ol aiding a few lost souls in A.F. Calculus, senior John Tholen carefully puts a homework problem on the board. 158 A.P. COURSES

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took a study hall because I didn ' t want a heavy academic load. -Karen Reynolds Study Halls Provide Daily Break by K, Morgan S. York TO take a study hall or not to take a study hall; that was a major decision faced by many stu- dents this year. With shortened class periods, teach- ers still tried to handle the same amount of work that they did last year. Counselor Ken Ish said, Kids took on more than they were willing to handle and many ended up dropping classes and taking study halls. Study halls were offered as breaks from the academic load that some students carried. Freshman Molly Abramson said, It gave me a time to relax or sometimes to get passes to the library. Another benefit of study halls is the fact that students had designated homework time. Lowerclassmen, who were required to show up for study halls, were issued detentions for skipping. A study hall allowed participation in the Complementary Education Activity. This activity, called C. E. A., enabled students to obtain help during their free hours. Juniors and seniors weren ' t required to show up for their study halls. Open hours, as upper study halls are called, were used for a variety of things. Jennifer York, a senior, approved of the idea of open study halls. Upperclassmen can handle the responsibility and indepen- dence better, she said. The atmosphere of study halls has improved. In previous years, teachers sometimes made talkative students do pushups. With the C. E. A. program, students benefitted more and more out of their study halls than ever before. In any case, study halls became increasingly more important and were well worth the student ' s time. Senior Julie Dietz starts her homework eighth hour in the library. This frees up time later in the evening. Mark Ament works diligently while he takes advantage of his eighth hour study hall to complete homework ' in the library. ACADEMICS 157

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Senior Maria Rybickj works diligently on her latest A.P. Physics students Justin Mirro and Paul Kitchen find calculus equation, wondering when derivatives will be out that teamwork makes the class less demanding and beneficial in later life. more fun. photo by Paul Donar I :! - i mm A c I H K pil - . d l i JHipf l— Hj JIfe a B After punching in the necessary data, senior Chris Smith watches his monitor for the final readout in his Physics II experiment. photo by Paul Donar Amidst his peers, Cory Robertson probes a question in European History to satisfy his burning intellectual curi- osity, photo by Elissa Sard Trying to squeeze every ounce of information onto the page. Matt Hepfer prepares for an in-class paper in World Literature. ACADEMICS 159