Rosemont Electives

Before school starts, every Rosemont student sees all the possible electives they could get. They rank them from their first choice to their sixth. Some of the students get their top two picks, while some students get their first and sixth choice. But how does that work? Why do some kids get their top choices, and others don’t? In this article, we look at the process of assigning electives to students.

The process of scheduling electives is complicated. We interviewed Mr. Gillespie from the counselor’s office, who told us that most kids get top choices. However, some kids don’t get all the electives they want no matter how early they apply. If you don’t come from a feeder school, you will get the electives to list much later since you must go through the process of getting accepted. The counselors have no control over that, and those kids have a much harder time getting their top choices since the people from feeder schools have already signed up.

Mr. Laing is the new seventh-grade assistant principal here at Rosemont. When asked about electives, he explained that even though most kids get their top choices, some kids need extra support in topics like math or reading. If that is the case, the student will have to take a class on that subject, which will take the place of their elective.  

Other than that, counselors will try their best to get kids into all the classes they want. But while this is true, inevitably there are always some kids who will be disappointed. Every year, the counselors receive complaints about electives. They try their hardest to try and fit them into all the electives they want, but with the number of students at Rosemont, this is nearly impossible. Most students just have to sit tight and wait for the second semester to come. 

But students aren’t the only ones who have to deal with electives. We interviewed Ms. Combs on what it is like to teach only an elective. Ms. Combs teaches forensic science. Her favorite part is that all the students are interested in what they are learning in class. She says that teaching only one class is a lot easier because she can use the same lesson plan for all classes (unlike teachers like Ms. Monaco, who teaches both English and journalism). During the first couple of months she studied hard, learning everything she needed to know about Forensics. She now has been teaching forensics for a year and one month, and is happy to be a part of the science team!

So now that you know about the electives, one question remains: why are they important? Couldn’t our day be much shorter and more accessible without the extra classes? Why are they required anyway? According to Why Electives Matter, an article in Education Weekly, “Electives classes reveal the skill sets of some students that might not be obvious in their other classes, helping them see their strengths and affording them opportunities to be of value to their classmates.” Electives help students find new interests, and possibly career choices. 

Electives can be amazing things, but they can also be challenging. They encourage kids to try new things, but not every kid likes what they find. Overall, middle school electives are crazy things, and Rosemont is no exception.