Pleasant Valley High School offers a variety of various electives in a multitude of different areas of study – it can get hard to choose which ones to take!
The following electives are the ones I have deemed the most beneficial to take for beyond high school, whether you are heading to college or going out into the world:
6. Web Design and Advertising I and II
The goal of these classes is to teach students how to use the Adobe Creative Cloud suite, a group of applications designed to create different types of media, ranging from graphics to websites to movies! This is extremely helpful for students who plan on going into the tech industry.
5. Photography I and II
Cameras are more accessible than ever before, but there is more to photography than just pulling out your phone and snapping a picture. These classes teach students how to compose and take better photographs as well as how to develop their own style of photography.
4. Intro to Business
Knowing how a business works is important, especially in our capitalistic country. This class will introduce business and economic concepts to students that will give them an advantage in the long run.
3. Food Prep 1
Chances are high you might end up living by yourself at some point. And when that time comes, you will need some cooking skills if you want to save money but still eat a variety of food. That’s where Food Prep (and some other cooking classes offered at PV) comes in. Not only do students learn how to create different types of food, but they also learn the culinary sciences behind what they make.
2. World Languages
Our nation is known for its diversity, which comes with multiple languages as well. Knowing foreign languages is key to interacting with all types of people. Plus, it is a requirement at many colleges. If you plan on going to college, I would suggest taking it here for free rather than having to pay for the class in college.
1. Personal Finance
Most of the above electives will not matter if you cannot manage your money well. This class is designed to teach students all they need to know in order to manage their money by themself and make their dreams possible. Students also have an added bonus of optional college credit from the University of Northern Iowa.
Besides the world languages, all of these classes are one semester long and assign a low amount of homework. You will not regret taking these classes!
