LOS ALAMITOS, Calif. — It’s that time of year again, when students crowd into the Performing Arts Center waiting for their counselors to give a lesson about next year. This year, Los Alamitos High School is adding new classes for the next school year. 

AP Cybersecurity

The new Advanced Placement Cybersecurity course will replace the current AP Introduction to Computer Science class and will be treated as a pilot course for LAHS. Throughout the course, students will learn the impact of cybersecurity on people and the government. 

AP Cybersecurity is designed to introduce the concepts of security, securing spaces, securing networks, securing devices and securing applications and data. This class is open to all grade levels and is great for students interested in careers or majors that explore the protection of online spaces, to either see if the subject appeals to them or to get more experience. 

Ukele

Another new class is the Ukulele course. This class is a small offering and will be an intro class. In this class, students will be learning about the history and care of a ukulele. Students will also be able to perform and keep book logs. This course is offered to all grade levels, and there will likely be only one offering of this course because of its novelty.

AP Business with Personal Finance

Next, AP Business with Personal Finance is another one of the newest elective options in the Career Technical Education pathway. This course is intended for 9-10th-grade students, but will be open to all grade levels. Similar to AP Cybersecurity, this course will be an introduction to the college-level business classes. 

“Based on students approaching me for various clubs, a lot of them seem to be structured around business or finance or entrepreneurship,” said AP world history teacher Mr. Moy. “I think it’s obviously a growing field in our world. To have this, I think, is going to give students opportunities to pursue what they’re passionate about.”

Mr. Moy has been active in bringing this class to the schools. LAHS has had many business and finance clubs, such as LosAl Incorporated, Business & Finance and Women in Finance, but this will be the first school-provided course on those topics. 

The course is part of the AP Career Kickstart, which will allow students to complete group work and explore business through marketing, finance, accounting, management and real-world situations. Students will receive 20 case studies of various companies that can be analyzed. These case studies will be used to teach students about more business terms.

“AP Business of Personal Finance, it’s taught in this really cool way (…). You end up doing a business project where you’re creating something,” said Mrs. Reyes, Assistant Principal of Curriculum, Instruction, and Instructional Technology. “Then, on the personal finance part, you’re given a fictitious family that you have to become their personal financial advisor.”

Esports

Esports activity is already prevalent on campus, with the LAHS esports club having 80+ members, with around half of these students actively competing in the gaming industry.

“The course for esports is completely separate from what our club does in terms of the competitive scene,” said Mr. Moy, who also serves as the LAHS esports club advisor. “This course isn’t (exactly) around gaming itself. It is, but there’s the misconception that students are in there and they’re playing video games during the class.”

This class has an approved grant from the Los Alamitos Education Foundation to build a gaming lab on campus.

“Our next step is just building the lab somewhere,” said Mrs. Reyes, “Then by offering this course, we’re hoping students will be given the opportunity to explore this billion-dollar industry of e-gaming and esports.”

Anatomy and Philosophy is becoming a PLTW

Project Lead The Way is the program that LAHS uses to base the curriculum for the Anatomy and Physiology course. LAHS is hoping to change the name of Anatomy and Philology to include PLTW to signal rigor levels to colleges. This won’t change the curriculum but will help with the rigor being presented to colleges, as well as making advanced anatomy a weighted course. Advanced Anatomy will become PLTW Medical Interventions and Anatomy and Physiology will become PLTW Human Body Systems.

With over 100 course options available, students are sure to find classes they will love. Make sure to talk to your counselor about the best courses for you and have fun picking your schedule Griffins!