Well folks, it’s that time of year again: registration time!

For students, signing up for classes often brings feelings of excitement, stress, and even a bit of confusion. What do I sign up for? How can I fit all that I want into my schedule? How many challenging classes do I need to take in order for my transcript to look like it was sent from the gods?

Have no fear!  We here at The Talon are ready to answer all of your questions in regards to the upcoming school year.  So sit back and relax as we offer you our tips for successful registration…

Register early. Although Mr. Bolsoni admits early registration doesn’t guarantee you a spot in the most popular classes (like courses offered in the fab lab, or any class taught by Mr. Martin), it does act as a safeguard against silly mistakes you may make along the way. However, if a class does fill up, remaining spots are distributed based on seniority.

Pay attention to details.  Students, especially younger students who have little to no experience registering, often make avoidable mistakes. Make sure you type in the correct numbers (the ones in the red box) that correspond to the class you want to take.

Mixing up one number can switch you from first trimester of Advanced Placement Calculus to Cardio Fitness 1. Extra hint: F, W, S stands for the trimester in which the class is being offered and is not a part of the code you enter. And watch out for those tricky full-year classes where you have to enter the three different codes.

Pay attention to your required credits.  Mr. Bolsoni advises students to (discount) double-check their work to make sure everything is right to avoid an extra headache needing to redo your schedule later because you are missing an English credit.

Ask questions!  The counselors are extremely helpful resources during this time, as well as any of the teachers. However, we think the best people to ask are the people who walk right next to you in the halls every day because they have all lived through it.

Asking older kids can seem intimidating, especially if you are younger, but the risk is worth the reward. And because The Talon is so awesome, we already started asking around for you! Here are some seniors’ views on the most beneficial class they have taken and why:

• Hannah Groh: “Mentor Field Experience because it is the only class where you don’t have to ask that question, ‘When am I going to need to know this later in life?’ because the entire class is geared towards you and your future.”
• Jackie Tan: “CIS Spanish 5 because the amount of fluency in Spanish that you gain is incredible!”
• Ellie Bonin: “CIS Public Speaking because public speaking is a life skill, and Ms. Voss is awesome.”
• Adam Johnson: “Mentor Seminar because you learn a lot about yourself and what career field you might like.”
• Ellen Ennett: “Accounting because I learned that I really enjoy it.”
• Tia San Agustin: “Interpersonal Communications because it helps you in real-life situations.”
• Kayla Kirtz: “CIS Writing Studio because it really helped me prepare for all of the writing that I will have to do in college.”
• Nate Williams: “Mentor Seminar and Field Experience because they are centered around my future, not a textbook.”
• Clover Lee: “AP Statistics because it helps you understand statistics in real life situations.”
• Henry Luetje: “Keyboarding because typing is such a big part of college and the professional world.”
• Brock Morgan: “AP Lang with Mr. Martin, because writing was a weakness and his teaching was able to help me write at a higher level.”
• Claire Hoffa: “CIS Spanish 5 for sure, because you get real college credit without paying thousands of dollars, and you get to do it in the comfort of high school. I would 11/10 recommend.”

The fun thing about being a senior is you don’t have to stress about what classes you are going to take next year (not yet at least). The sad thing about being a senior is finding out that the high school is going to offer some pretty cool new courses next year:

1. Introduction to Art, 2D Art, and 3D art are being combined into two classes: Introduction to Art 2D and Introduction to Art 3D. This allows students access to their desired art elective classes quicker, without having to take as many required prerequisites.
2. IT Exploration, also known as Information Technology Exploration, is a computer networking class that introduces students to the beginning levels of information technology and CISCO. As a STEM school, our vision for the future is to eventually allow students to become CISCO certified by the time they graduate from AVHS. (For more information on CISCO certification, see Mr. Bolsoni in the guidance office)
3. Elementary Mentoring is an opportunity for high school students to mentor students at local elementary schools. According to Mr. Bolsoni, “We are getting a lot of requests from elementary schools where they need high school mentors–tutors, good role models, people helping, or maybe even just supervising, and we want to be able to meet those needs.” This new class for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders, requiring teacher approval, is a great opportunity for our students to work with young people in the district and show them just how great AVHS is.
4. Introduction to Computer Programming is a one trimester-long math elective where students learn how to code. Mr. Bolsoni highly recommends this class for anyone interested in a career in the coding world!
5. Field Geology, offered through the science department, is a class of many field trips (that’s right–field trips!!!), allowing students to experience Minnesota geology hands on. Field Geology is joining the “earth science series,” consisting of the meteorology and astronomy classes.
6. Advanced Placement Economics is combining CIS Micro and AP Macro to cut four trimesters of econ down to three, making the college credit process easier for students wanting to take both macro and micro economics.

If you need additional help during the registration process, make sure you visit the counselors during every lunch period January 19th-21st, or before school on January 25th & 26th in the Media Center to create your schedule with your counselor. For quick and easy updates follow @AVHSCounseling and @AVHSAcademics on Twitter (and for fun follow @kaylakirtz and @claire_hoffa).

The school website also includes links to every document you could ever need including course lists, course descriptions, and other fun stuff.