With the end of the school year rapidly approaching, the time has come for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors to select their courses for the next academic year. Much like last year’s, this year’s Curriculum Guide offers a host of fundamental changes that will serve to provide a more beneficial learning experience for students of all grade levels at Benet Academy.
The most dramatic change to this year’s course selection is the rearrangement of the course sequence in the Science Department. Previously students could choose, depending on their academic ability, whether to take Chemistry or Physics as their science course in sophomore year. Now, all sophomores will take either Regular or Honors Chemistry, and all Juniors will take Physics. The other change to the Science Curriculum comes in the form of a brand new college-level Course: Advanced Placement Physics 1 & 2. Open to all Juniors and Seniors taking Honors-level math, this course replaces Honors Advanced Physics. Moreover, this new course allows students to gain up to two semesters of college credit for an algebra-based Physics course.
However, the Science Department is not the only department changing its course selection in the upcoming year. In the English department, Collegiate Humanities is now being offered as a Post-AP course, asking students to analyze, research, and discuss a variety of global cultures. Next year, the second class in the Advanced Placement Capstone sequence, AP Research, will be offered, allowing students from the Class of 2025 to be the first in school history to receive the prestigious Advanced Placement Capstone Diploma. This diploma distinguishes students from their peers because of their outstanding critical thinking and reasoning skills.
Additionally, the Engineering and Computer Science Department is adding more courses from the acclaimed educational service provider Project Lead The Way. Starting next year, Benet will offer a second-year course in Aerospace Engineering, allowing students a pathway to learn about one of the most desired fields of study for Benet students at the university. Finally, Advanced Placement French is being added as a course in the World Languages Department. With the additions brought forth in this Curriculum Guide, Benet Academy now offers twenty-five courses that are at least modeled around the standards offered by the College Board in their AP tests. This puts the academy on par with many local public schools in the state, as well as many catholic schools in other regions of the country, despite having a smaller student population. Junior Nathan Daniel Hamlin seems to agree, saying that “Benet Academy’s Curriculum Guide inspired and astonished me to pursue new opportunities in my Benet academic career.”
Overall, this addition of new classes to Benet Academy’s curriculum, as in previous years, continues to provide a new opportunity for students to continue live out both Benedictine traditions and academic excellence simultaneously.
