Beginning freshman year, students have the opportunity to enroll within high school inter-departmental electives. Deciding classes is often difficult with varying interests, especially with elective courses; however, the following descriptions will find you the perfect elective according to the Mt. SAC Early College Academy course catalogs and syllabuses.

Leadership ASB

Are you interested in improving your management, leadership, and teamwork skills? ASB Leadership is perfect for you! ASB teaches students about leadership and acts as the school’s Associated

Student Body. Students within this class promote school spirit, plan school events, develop an understanding of democracy, and learn what it means to be a good leader. Through these experiences, students will develop skills of time management, leadership, organization, planning, teamwork, budgeting, and communication. This class combines instruction with leadership practice in the laboratory of practical school-community relations.

As the current treasurer of ASB with three years of experience, Daniela Arreola is thoroughly engaged within the ASB organization.

“My favorite part of [being in] ASB is the collaboration aspect,” Daniela explains. “You get to work with everyone at least once in the year on different projects…Getting to know people on a deeper level through group efforts is incredibly rewarding and it’s the biggest reason why I enjoy ASB so much.”

Furthermore, ASB has provided an abundance of knowledge and experience: “ASB has taught me how to be a better teammate and leader…[aiding in developing vital skills] such as communication, organization, and compassion,” Daniela elaborates.

Daniela especially stresses the versatility of ASB, “any person could join ASB and find it to be a great experience. You don’t have to be the most outgoing, positive, or confident person to join the group and find success in it. Everyone’s skill set will be valuable to the group.”

Yearbook

If you enjoy design and art, Yearbook is the perfect elective course for you! Yearbook combines printing techniques with visual and graphic arts through student involvement. In this course,

students analyze literature and art through expository writing, designing, evaluating images, communicating, and working independently within teams. Overall, this course sharpens students’ thinking, communication, expression, maturity, work-ethic, confidence, creativity, and independence.

With two years within the Yearbook elective course, Brianna Ha is a practiced editor of the school yearbook.

“[Through my experience,] I really enjoyed being able to meet new people and explore the topics of design, taking photos, and photo editing since I’ve always had an interest in art,” Brianna elaborates.

Working independently and collectively on components of the school yearbook, Brianna has gained more knowledge in capturing pictures and utilizing digital design software.

“Pre-covid, yearbook was also a great way to become comfortable with reaching out to others. Although it is a bit different now, it’s been great to have experience sending emails [and collecting photos],” Brianna states.

Brianna especially advises students who are interested in graphic design or photography to enroll within the Yearbook elective course.

Brianna ensures that “Yearbook gives the perfect opportunity to both learn new skills related to [photography and design] and grow familiar with a working environment.”

Journalism

Are you fascinated by the world of writing and design? Journalism is your ideal elective course! Through Journalism, students study printing, reporting, graphic layout, photog

raphy, interviewing, and newspaper composition principles in producing The Academy Chronicle. In writing original news reports and features, conducting interviews, researching, and designing publications, students explore the skills of investigation, reporting, and journalistic writing techniques.

Payton Zarceno is highly engaged within Journalism as an experienced editor with three years of experience.

“[Through Journalism,] I’ve learned to better stay unbiased[,] look for sources and…paraphrase words,” Payton says; “[w]riting from all different points of view with different topi[cs] has definitely expanded my range of writing and improved upon the skills I already had.”

Additionally, Journalism has expanded Payton’s skills of leadership, organization, planning, and promoting engagement. Journalism overall is extremely versatile through exceptional student involvement, engaged journalists, and enlightening interviews.

“Some of my favorite Journalism days were ones where we just got to sit down and interview students…when it comes to broadcast journalism, writing scripts and filming bits are some of the most entertaining scenes you’ll ever see,” Payton explains.

Though Payton recommends students passionate about writing and meeting new people to enroll within Journalism, “you don’t [necessarily] need to be interested in news, but you have to be willing to dig deeper to produce a well-rounded story.”

Study Skills
Do you need time during school dedicated to classwork? Study Skills is a course for students interested in receiving extra support in certain classes. Through Study Skills, students develop writing, inquiry, collaboration, and reading strategies in order to prepare for the obligations required for college and career.

As an active student of Study Skills, Annalise Navarro appreciates the time managing, test-taking, and studying knowledge she has gained through this course.

In addition to gaining valuable knowledge, “Study Skills is [especially] enjoyable…when we work with our classmates[, ]work together on assignments and help each other.” She elaborates, “a lot of times we just talk about our weekend or important things happening. While having that time to work is great, it’s also fun to take a break.”

Study Skills is a wonderful elective course for students of all grades; however, Annalise especially recommends Study Skills to all freshmen, “[i]t is very helpful to have that time to work on any work I might have.”

Overall, Mt. SAC Early College Academy offers a variety of compelling and engaging elective courses, accommodating a vast variety of student interests. Additionally, these electives have provided numerous students with essential skills necessary for achieving success.