Grace Burke
News
AP Night was scheduled to be held on Thursday, Feb.3, at 7:00pm, however it was moved to Thursday the Feb. 10 due to the weather. AP night addressed the expectations for the honors and AP classes offered at the high school. Assistant principal Dawn Bartz began AP Night four years ago, enabling students and their parents to understand the variety of classes offered at NCHS. “It allows the students to see not only the amount of work but the way the class is structured, which is often times different from a regular class,” Ms. Bartz said.
Each department head spoke about the class as well as a syllabus for the upcoming year. Taking into account that some students might not enjoy the teaching style of a certain educator, the program provides information about the expectations. “There is a panel of teachers, parents and students are given the opportunity to ask any questions they have about the class to give them a better understating of the class,” Ms. Bartz said.
More specifically, “The kids ask genuine questions about the classes, like, ‘if they struggled last year how will they do in this class?’ They are less concerned about how it will look on a college application. The students are very engaging to have,” English Department Chair Heidi D’Acosta said.
“We were finding students dropping out in the beginning or half way through because the class didn’t meet their expectations,” Ms. Bartz said. “This gives both parents and students the chance to see if they can handle the work load of an honors or AP course. It serves as a snapshot of the class, so the students can have a general idea of what they are signing up for.”
Ms. D’Acosta agreed. “The goal is to keep the kids informed so they can make informed decisions going forward,” she said.
The audience at AP night is usually parents, but Bartz stressed the importance of everyone attending. “Many of our classes don’t come until junior or senior year, so it is important to see the parents as well as the upperclassmen in attendance to have a thorough understanding of the classes,” she said.
The only AP class offered to freshmen is AP World History, so upperclassmen are encouraged to come. Some upperclassmen that had attended AP night last year benefitted in the long run. “Before AP night last year I had planned on only taking one honors class, but after learning more about it I decided to take two APs and one honors class. The night really showed me exactly what the classes would be like,” junior Nicole Giusti said.
“We offer unique programs, like the American Studies class offered to juniors, and hope that both the students and parents take advantage of the night to learn more. Decisions are made as families, the parents and students are encouraged to come,” Ms. D’Acosta said.
Others, however, didn’t feel the night was necessary in order to select their classes. “I didn’t go to AP Night because first of all, I didn’t even know there was one, and second of all my guidance counselor and parents pretty much made the decision for me,” junior Ted* said. “I took the two honors classes and one AP on because I knew it looked good on college apps and I could always drop out if I couldn’t handle it.”
*Name has been changed
