Alexis Fowler

It’s officially time to pick your classes for next year. As a senior, I’m constantly hearing people debating which classes to pick. It’s a tough decision because colleges will look at every class you take.

If you’re going into your freshman year, you need to be thinking about not only your classes now, but also your future classes. Try to make sure you set yourself up during your freshman year to get enough credits. If you’re up for a challenge, I suggest you take AP Human Geography. If you’re a dedicated hard working student, this class will really help you out.

Although you should challenge yourself, you don’t want to be too overwhelmed. So, if you’re nervous about taking an AP course, try honors classes first. It’s what I did, and it worked out really well. 

Try taking an honors English and History course before deciding to take AP Language and AP US history. Although, I highly recommend taking these classes, you need to make sure you’re prepared. 

Don’t worry about not passing your AP test because if you don’t pass the test, you can still pass the class. The test has nothing to do with your grade and it’s optional. Still, I believe you should absolutely take the exam for possible college credit.

If you’re going to be a junior, or a senior, and AP classes aren’t your style, take FTCC classes instead. Personally I didn’t want to leave campus every day, so I took an in person class at Cape Fear. The professors come here, and it’s only 4 days a week. 

After you’ve picked your core classes you get to pick electives. I recommend trying to find one that is associated with something you’re interested in. Don’t pick random electives and end up miserable all year because you aren’t interested in what you are learning. 

The only elective that I think you really need, besides P.E. because it’s required and foreign language classes for college, is Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. It looks really great on college applications to say I’m certified in both Microsoft powerpoint and word. Also, it will help me in any future career.

If you enjoy drawing and art we have many art classes. Mrs. Bullard, one of our recent teachers of the week, is a great teacher who is dedicated to helping students grow their passion for art. If you are interested in performing arts, dance, color guard, marching band, chorus, orchestra or theater could be the elective for you. 

As a student interested in photography, and writing, I opted for yearbook and journalism. Even though they are my two favorite classes, I know not everyone would be interested in them. 

We also have great FFA classes. You can even join the agriculture academy by taking a certain number of classes. Or if sciences are what you prefer you should join the science academy and take classes through it. 

Just focus on trying to find what interests you. It’s a learning process, but it’s worth it. 

If you need help deciding which classes to take, reachout to an upperclassman that you trust. Or contact your guidance counselor to get a professional opinion.