As the year comes to a close, it’s time to start thinking about schedules for next year. If you have an empty spot in your schedule or if you want ideas for the rest of your years at Bearden, take a look at this list for ideas about what to take.

I’ve taken a lot of classes at Bearden that I’ve loved and even looked forward to attending on a daily basis, but the one class I found to have an engaging curriculum as well as skills that I retained and use often was journalism. It’s the class that inspired me to take a genuine interest in journalistic writing and to join The Bark. [Maggie Kimber]

For me, any art class is probably going to be great, but the advanced art class is definitely the class at Bearden I enjoyed the most. Don’t let the word “advanced” scare you out of taking it. In the class, you have a lot more freedom to take a project and make it your own. You’re also expected to work at a higher and faster level. For me, the projects ranged from taking me two weeks to complete or one class period. Not only do you get to work creatively, but you also get a look into art history. The whole semester I had that class was complete bliss. [Madison Tenney]

Marine Ecology is one of the most underrated classes at Bearden. Ms. Noelle Turner provides the students of our land-locked state with an amazing marine experience. You get to learn about things like bioluminescence and the different corals. You also get to dissect an array of marine creatures. My favorites were the squid and the sea cucumber. [Cassidy Bailey]

Obviously my favorite class at Bearden is The Bark. If you’re interested in learning how a publication works and making friends that you’ll have forever, you should definitely join The Bark. You have to work hard, but the experience is worth it especially if you get a leadership position. (I’m definitely joking because being any position on staff is awesome.) Join The Bark if you want to make friends and if you want to have the best teacher ever. (s/o to Mr. Vacek) [Katie Matthews]

Wildlife is one of the most useful and practical classes I have taken in high school. It’s not that I spend all my time in the wilderness or that I cook all my meals on a leave-no-trace campfire (although now I can), but Wildlife is a class where you learn critical thinking and make friends while tracking woodland animals behind the baseball field. Also, no other class at Bearden gives you the chance to go rappelling or hold a snake during lessons. [Allie Gruszkiewicz]

I have had many great classes at Bearden, but one of my favorite classes at Bearden is Americans at War with Coach Mark Blevins. Coach Blevins loves history, and he makes the class much more fun than just information in a textbook. He spends a lot of his time outside of school as a civil war re-enactor, so sometimes he will bring that experience into the classroom. He also took us on a trip to Lookout Mountain and Chickamauga in Chattanooga during the middle of the semester, which was one of the best school trips I have ever been on. [Tyler Hotz]

As a sophomore, I haven’t experienced all of Bearden’s classes, but one class that I really enjoy is definitely photography. It is a hard class; it isn’t something to take just because you can. It goes into the depths of developing film as well as aspects like photographic composition and creativity. [Kira Suerth]

SMAC is currently seen as a club at Bearden rather than a class, but one option for next year’s Skinny Period (see Madison Chan’s story on next year’s schedule) will include a class strictly dedicated to helping the soon-to-be Baby Bulldogs. As Head Director of SMAC, I strongly suggest considering taking this class next year, as it is a delightful combination of leadership, responsibility, and spaghetti. So yeah, consider SMAC for next year. [Danielle Fannon]

With only eight slots on a high school schedule, and half of them core classes, it’s hard to decide what the best choices are. And needless to say, there are a lot of excellent choices; however, limited to one, I think that every student should take AP Environmental. A mixture of science, social studies, math, and writing, AP Environmental has a little bit of everything and gives students a new perspective of the world. AP Environmental is a crash course about the world around us, and as people who will still be living on this planet for a significant amount of time, it seems like it should be important to learn about it and take care of it. And, of course, have some fun along the way. [Madison Chan]

A lot of my choices have been taken, but thankfully there is no shortage of good classes I have taken at Bearden. One of them is the first class I ever took at Bearden, Computer Apps. It helped when we were first learning about our laptops, and is a big help to anyone who doesn’t have experience with MacBooks. [Wyeth Wilson]