Elective Course Descriptions

Physical Education

Physical Education 1 (A & B) is designed to promote proficiency in some team/individual sports and personal fitness.  Students will learn the basic components of physical fitness and be able to implement those in personalized fitness programs, demonstrate sport skills and achieve gender and age group fitness standards. This course also includes the State required health unit.

Freshman Seminar

Freshman Seminar is a course specifically designed for ninth graders at Scholars Academy. This course walks them through the transition from middle school to the rigorous environment of the Scholars Academy program. In this course, students are given both the academic and emotional tools they need to embark on their new academic journey.

Yearbook Journalism

This course focuses on all aspects of creating a high school yearbook, from developing a theme, creating a budget, selling advertisements, designing the cover and layouts, writing copy, and taking photos.

AP Capstone Seminar

AP Seminar is a foundational course that engages students in cross-curricular conversations that explore the complexities of academic and real-world topics and issues by analyzing divergent perspectives. Students learn to investigate a problem or issue, analyze arguments, compare different perspectives, synthesize information from multiple sources, and work alone and in a group to communicate their ideas.  This course culminates in two major performance tasks, each with its own written and presentation-based components, as well as a handwritten AP Exam that each contributes to the student’s overall AP score.

AP Capstone Research

AP Research, the second course in the AP Capstone experience, allows students to deeply explore an academic topic, problem, issue, or idea of individual interest. students design, plan and implement a yearlong investigation to address a research question. Through this inquiry, they further the skills they acquired in the AP Seminar course by learning research methodology, employing ethical research practices, and accessing, analyzing, and synthesizing information. Students reflect on their skill development, document their processes, and curate the artifacts of their scholarly work through a process and reflection portfolio. The course culminates in an academic paper of 4,000 –5,000 words (accompanied by a performance, exhibit, or product where applicable) and a presentation with an oral defense that each contributes to the student’s overall AP score.