Pitman High School has many interesting elective classes offered, with many different paths in preparation for different careers. This article will highlight some of the very interesting classes you can take here on campus, as well as some new classes that are going to be available to take at Pitman starting the 2024-2025 school year.   

The first new class being introduced to our campus starting next school year is Mariachi Band. In this class students will learn to play instruments and music associated with mariachi. The class is open to all grade levels and will be taught by Mr. Modesto. Any students who are interested in performing or learning about mariachi should take this class. I asked Mr. Modesto why he thinks students should take this class, and he said, “I hope students take the class because music resonates to those who aren’t already in a music class here at Pitman. Students should also take it to experience another culture and language.” 

Basic Drawing is a new art class that will be available starting the 2024-2025 school year. It is a dual enrollment course with MJC. The class will be taught by Mrs. McCandless, and has no prerequisites. 

We have a Psychology class on campus, but starting next year AP Psychology will be available for students to take. Like Psychology, AP Psychology will also be taught by Mr. Santos. I interviewed Mr. Santos about the class, and he said that the “AP Psychology course introduces students to the systematic and scientific study of human behavior and mental processes. While considering the studies that have shaped the field, students explore and apply psychological theories, key concepts, and phenomena associated with major units of study, including biological bases of behavior, cognition, development, learning, social psychology, personality, and mental and physical health.” 

But how is this class different from regular Psych? Well according to Mr. Santos, the AP Psych class focuses more on scientific concepts, data, and methods. Students will also do more research on case studies and experiments, as well as discuss and analyze them. This class is available for juniors and seniors, and you must have at least a 2.0 GPA and a C or higher in English in order to take this class.

For my final interview questions, I asked which students Mr. Santos thinks should take Psychology, and why students should take AP Psychology. “Any student that is interested in exploring why we behave and think the way we do should take this class. Psychology is an ever advancing field; this is a good way to introduce students to the many different topics of psych.” Additionally, the class is an AP class, meaning that college credit could be earned by passing the AP exam. This class is great for students planning to pursue a psychology major in college, as Mr. Santos says, “ it can help students prepare for what they have in store for them in college, because I plan on teaching it as close to a college class as possible.”