Although the focus of the last four years may have been on getting a certain grade, seniors can now look back and reflect on what they will take with them into their futures.
Senior Justin Huang will be majoring in computer science at the University of Maryland, College Park. For him, both AP Physics C classes were the two most impactful classes he had taken in his high school career. AP Physics C focuses on “understanding how objects interact with each other in the world,” Huang said.
AP Physics C is notorious for keeping students busy in class and at night. “Homework load was a lot. Probably an hour every single day, including weekends. Starting the homework during advisory and working with friends to get a better understanding of the material [was helpful],” Huang said.
Wei Huang teaches both AP Physics C classes, which students take in the same school year, with AP Physics C: Mechanics in the first half of the school year and AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism in the second half. “Her teaching style requires you to keep up and pay attention the entire class. It’s a very fast-paced learning environment and requires attention the entire 42 minutes. It was a challenge, but understanding the material was rewarding once you did understand it,” Huang said.
His favorite topic he learned in this class was about circuits. “Circuits were my favorite thing I learned in this class because it’s something we use every day in our lives such as lights and batteries, which we use everywhere. Understanding how they work was a very interesting experience and designing our own circuit was also a challenge but equally rewarding,” Huang said.
Senior Ashi Stanislaus plans to major in political science at university. For her, both AP Economics classes, Microeconomics and Macroeconomics were most impactful. Both classes are taught by Christopher McTamany. Both AP Economics classes have extensive homework. “The homework load was a lot and I set an hour dedicated to it each night to make sure I got everything done. And I went in for advisory when I needed help,” Stanislaus said.
For her this class was especially useful due to her planned college major. “I liked learning about the different types of markets because it was very interesting and I could apply it to the real world. I want to study government and politics and you have to understand how the economy works if you want to understand how the government works,” Stanislaus said.
One skill she took away from this class is unrelated to the actual content of the course. “I learned how to take notes in a new way. I take so many notes for econ when I listen to him talk and watch videos,” Stanislaus said.
Senior Will Balian plans to major in biology at the University of Virginia. Despite his intended major, the class he found most impactful was flag football. This class was taught by James Long. Long “had a fluid teaching style some would say is non-traditional. But it works well, is very fun, and hands off to the teacher,” Balian said.
Balian enjoyed having fun in this class. Mossing is a term used by football players when they catch a pass over a defender’s head. “I learned how to play football and it was fun because I could Moss people,” Balian said.
Despite spending the next four years studying biology, he will carry this experience with him to college. “This class correlates to what I will study in college as I will do intramural sports in college and cook people there as well,” Balian said.
