When students sign up for elective classes, popular choices are band or sociology. But what many people do not realize is that there are other choices for electives that are not commonly talked about, such as Music Theory or Adult Living.

Band teacher Patrick Kearney teaches Music Theory. “It’s the study of music and the elements that make up music, whether that be chords or scales, and analysis of music as written and some music history,” Kearney said. “Then the second part of it is composition, more creation.” In order to take this course, only an instructor recommendation is necessary. “You do have to have some music background to take it,” he said. “It’s largely an extension to the performance classes that we already have. If you aren’t in those classes, it would be like taking Spanish 2 without taking Spanish 1.”

Junior Jennifer Curiel is a student in Kearney’s Music Theory class. She believes that the reason Music Theory is unpopular is because of the name of the class. “People who see ‘Music Theory’ often think that it’s entirely the theory of music and analyzing every single one of the phrases and it is not that,” she said. If she were to rename the class, she would call it Composition 101. “We compose about once a week now but later in the year that will basically be all we are doing,” Curiel said.

FCS teacher Alison Hoskins teaches Adult Living. “Adult Living is a class that’s really meant for juniors and seniors to help you with whatever it is that you’re worried about before you’re on your own,” Hoskins said. Everything from microwave cooking to filing taxes is covered in this course. “It’s a fast-paced trampoline jump into life,” she said.

Hoskins thinks that the reason her class is sort of unknown is because juniors do not have much room on their schedule and seniors want free periods. “I think what happens is that students just want a laid-back schedule,” she said. But she feels as if it is useful. “This is probably one of the only classes in the high school that someone can come in and I can guarantee you that every single thing that we talk about, you will use again,” Hoskins said.

Another problem for these classes is scheduling. “In the last five years, the requirements just to graduate have increased and suddenly your schedule is basically full,” Kearney said. “It kind of automatically caps who’s available to take the course.” In order to take the electives wanted, students need to make a long-term scheduling plan.

The teachers of these classes think they are worthwhile to take. “Adult Living is one of my favorite classes that we offer and I wish more people would know about it,” Hoskins said. “A lot of students haven’t done so well grade-wise but they say that this has taught them more information than the rest of their educational life, which is awesome.”