As students prepare to go out into the real world, they begin to take a deeper dive into future careers and with more personal introspection. They begin to ask the questions, who do I want to be? How do I want to get there?`

The Role of Electives

There are over 100 electives at Ankeny High School (AHS). Electives are any classes that are not required that students choose to take. There are different categories including, but not limited to, art, film, marketing, business, music world language, and then the core classes (math, science, literacy, and history) all have specialized electives that fit into their category. 

For example, for science, there are electives like Physics, Chemistry, AP Biology, etc. Math, history, and literacy all follow similar patterns and have multiple options of courses to choose from under their subject area category. 

The category art also has different multitudes of classes within the category such as; Art 1, AP Studio Art, Photography, Ceramics, 2D level 1, Graphic Design, etc. There are many options for any subject students are interested in furthering their education in. Students get to choose which ones they would like to take, and which would be the most beneficial for them. 

Students take these for a multitude of reasons such as college credit, getting career and future-ready, and simply trying to figure out what they are and are not interested in or good at. 

A huge benefit of trying out these classes in high school is that the average cost per course at a university is $2,355 whereas in high school it is free, so having the ability to take electives in high school is certainly an opportunity to take advantage of. 

Throughout Future Ready Week, Nov. 4 through Nov. 7, students hear from their teachers and counselors to learn about the offerings of each department. Students also begin to make some decisions about options, possible career paths, and opportunities that are open to them to help them prepare for their future both in and beyond high school.

“Taking electives in the core usually has benefits, especially for someone who’s going to one of the three region schools [Iowa, Iowa State, or UNI] because it helps your RAI score [a combination of ACT, SAT, grade point average(GPA), and the number of completed high school core classes] if you take more core classes,” guidance counselor Audrey Bell said.

So for students who may have yet to decide what they want to do in the future, taking electives based on the core subjects like math, science, English/literacy, and history, with the addition of foreign language classes, will be the most beneficial to students, especially those who do not know what it is they want to do in the future. 

Student Perspectives

With so many options given to them, students strive to find what is best for them and evaluate their passions. 

“Ankeny has given me lots of opportunities,” AHS junior Allison Irlmeier said. “There’s lots of schools out there that don’t get the opportunities that we get, and I’m very grateful that the [Ankeny] Hawks give their students the abilities like they give ours.” 

It is important that students are aware of the opportunities they have both within and outside of AHS. This is the purpose of Future Ready Week. Students can learn and take full advantage of each course option and find what is best for them. They can try new types of classes and discover more of who they are, who they may want to be, and potentially what they are interested in doing in the future.

AHS senior Satviki Gorella talked about how she has figured out through the years what she wants to do in the future, at least as of right now. She conveyed that she plans to go into biochemistry at the University of Iowa after graduation.

“I feel like I’m pretty confident and ready to go into bio-chem… because [of] AP Biology so I feel good about it,” Gorella stated.

Gorella enjoyed the process of trying electives like Choir and Ceramics, and acknowledged her teachers science teacher Lori Bing and art teacher Guy Loraine for being a big part of why she liked them so much, but they also helped her to learn that they were not part of the path she wanted to go on in the future. Gorilla took Introduction to Engineering Design as a freshman and quickly decided that it was not an area of learning that she was interested in furthering. This is when she started taking classes such as Biology her sophomore year, followed by Enriched Chemistry junior year, and finally AP Biology and Enriched Physics senior year.

 Resources for Students

The hallway surrounding the counselors office at AHS showcases the different post high school options students have including the trades, community colleges, and four-year colleges and universities. 

It is important that students know the classes they have the option of choosing. This is why having times like Future Ready Week is so important. There are also lots of helpful resources for that reason. These resources include the career cluster match with all of the electives and the future-ready site. These show each elective option and provide helpful ways to sort and individualize them to meet student needs. 

These QR codes are posted on the walls by the counseling office for students to schedule a meeting with their counselor whenever it is needed to ensure students feel prepared and ready to move to the next level. 

Counselors can meet with any student, students just have to scan the QR code to help choose classes and look at schedule options. Guidance counselors can also provide support in other ways in addition to helping senior Hawks prepare for post-high school life.