Incoming freshmen and even upperclassmen are faced with more responsibilities as they continue through their high school journey. In high school you can choose what clubs to be apart of, what sports to play and ultimately which classes to take. Every year students are asked to fill out a schedule for the following school year. After filling in the required classes, students are given the opportunity to choose electives. Some of SHS’ electives are yearbook, ceramics nutrition and wellness and interpersonal relationships.

Sophomore Laura Spurlock (who prefers to be called Lawrence), chose theater as his (the pronoun of Spurlock’s preference) elective. One of the reasons he took theater is because in that class students must present themselves in front of a group of people. He feels that by taking this elective, he can overcome his fear of public speaking which will later help him in speech class.

Spurlock’s decision was also based off of the fact that there was only one deserted slot on his schedule. He decided that taking a more laid back class was superior to a more normal classroom setting in which he would just sit throughout the period. Lawrence doesn’t only enjoy the atmosphere and benefits of the class, but also enjoys how the people in the class are accepting.

“It’s really fun in that class because you get to be yourself, and sometimes you can act like really weird and it’s totally okay because it’s a theater class,” Spurlock said.

Although he is enjoying his current elective, Spurlock says he wishes they still offered the jewelry making elective that was offered in previous years. His family who attended SHS all took that elective and he felt the need to carry on the tradition, but they didn’t have the class as an option this year.

“They got rid of it because no one wanted to take it,” Spurlock said. “I’m kinda mad because that’s what I was really looking forward to, and that was the only kind of art class I would’ve taken.”