Science Elective Sweep
By Nikolas VanBeveren ’25 & Miguel Salguero ’25
Did you know that our school offers classes like Meteorology? Neither did we! Today we will be going over four science electives that you may or may not have known about. To learn more about these classes we interviewed Ms. Nettleton and Ms. Ieronimo. These classes were deemed enjoyable but may have a lot of work that comes with them. Ms. Nettleton also said, “I don’t give homework if it’s finished in class. If work isn’t finished in class then it’s homework.” Ms Ieronimo also told us that the workload is pretty minimal and she said that she “typically does not give tests in botany because botany is a very hands-on science.” We hope that you will gain some interest in these topics and maybe even consider taking these classes!
The first science elective that we will be talking about is Astronomy! In this class you learn about our Earth and then move out into our Galaxy and then the whole entire Universe! This course also goes over the probability of life elsewhere in the Universe and uses a formula to determine if its possible. Another topic in this class is about the history of looking at the constellations and what the ancients thought about it! This all seems very exciting to learn about. Ms Nettleton also told us that “It’s really good to have students interested in the course because they can add to it.”
Our next class we will be talking about is Oceanography! This class is all about our oceans. When we interviewed Ms. Nettleton she told us, “We talk about the biological factors that affect our oceans, then we talk about the chemical factor, then the physical factors and finally the geology which talks about tectonic forces and different structures under the ocean! She also told us that students will not be doing any complicated equations so if you’re interested you should join! This class seems like a very interesting class to be in!
Our next class is Meteorology which is all about our atmosphere which includes the weather and climate. What we thought was really cool was something that Ms. Nettleton said: “We meet every class and at the very beginning of class we go outside for 5 minutes…we write down the temperature, what it feels like, barometric pressure, humidity, etc.” You will also get to look at the clouds and determine what they are. In this class you will learn about solar radiation, temperature and many more interesting units that you can learn about! We found this very cool to be a part of the class!
Last but certainly not least we have Botany! This class is all about plants and how they interact with the environment and humans in general. This class is more project and lab based rather than test based. It’s a lot of hands-on material so you end up going outside a lot! If you take this class you will also be given a lot of freedom and choice! “You have control over every assignment we do” said Ms. Ieronimo. She also stated that “I give students a lot of creative freedom with those projects so they can let their talents that they have shine.” If you want to learn about a certain type of plant, it can be applied to all the units in the class. Some learning that you will gain from taking this class is how to actually take care of a plant and even a unit on pollination and horticulture! “I recommend anyone and everybody to take botany,” stated Ms. Ieronimo. If you want to go into a field that involves plants or you just want to learn more about this science this class is recommended for you.
These science electives are all very exciting and will definitely be interesting to learn about! I know personally that I will definitely be taking at least one of these classes in my future! Our goal here today was to fill you in on some information on these exciting science electives. We hope that you learned something new and who knows, maybe you might want to learn more about one of these classes. Now this concludes our science elective sweep! We hope you learned something new and we hope you have a splendid rest of your day!!!
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