There are a wide-range of different classes being offered this upcoming school year; these classes are an expansion from the typical high school class. Teachers main goal within these new classes is to appeal to students personal interests.

Mr. Schwartz is proud to expand his current newspaper class; instead of newspaper and broadcasting being a combined class, broadcasting will be its own class. He said, “It is a project based class, in hopes to broaden our sports broadcasting along with staying actively involved in the PBS student reporting labs in which we produce video and featured stories for their PBS newshour. I hope that our morning newscast will continue to flourish along with creating more regular series podcasts.”

“I am completely open to any new ideas that students have to offer, that will benefit the class. I am excited for students to be able to explore their interests in broadcasting without newspaper limiting that possibility. There will be more opportunities for students to have their work shown over multiple platforms such as, soundcloud, youtube, DHSPress.com and even the local PBS station. The best part about broadcasting is that if some students are not comfortable on air, there are plenty of things to be involved in off-air.”

Mrs. Young, a teacher at Dominion will be expanding her Theater Arts class by adding dual enrollment. Mrs. Young said, “The class surveys the history and principles of drama, the development of theatre production, production methods, and includes reading selected plays to acquaint the student with various types of theatrical presentations.”

“I am very excited to introduce students who may not otherwise be attracted to a performance or Technical Theatre class to the world of theatrical productions as an art form and as a reflection of the society which has always impacted society in a very profound way over the ages since the very first days of ancient Greek theater.”

“Along with the exposure to modern production and theater, students will receive one LCPS elective credit, and six college credits through NOVA (the pathways program), which provides six transferable credits to all the universities which accept credits from NOVA.”

Another class that is adding dual enrollment to their program is Early Childhood Education. Mrs. Kittelson, the Early Childhood teacher said, “Students will be able to complete 60 hours in the Head Start room for their lab hours and meet all the NOVA course requirements for CHD 120, Intro to Childhood Education, CHD 145, Teaching Art, Music, and Movement to Children and CHD 165 Observation and Participation in Early Childhood/Primary Setting.”

“They will earn nine credit hours at NOVA CC. Students can then continue on at NOVA CC to earn a Early Childhood Certificate after completing seven more credit hours.  This would open opportunities to be a teacher assistant in a child care setting. Some other benefits of Early Childhood DE includes getting nine college credits from NOVA and a 1.0 gpa bump along with receiving four high school credits.”

The last day of finalizing courses for next year is June 13; so there is still plenty of time to decide. With multiple new classes coming to Dominion in the 2018-2019 school year, students will be exposed to more of their direct interests; this will help guide them on the right path as they advance in their studies.