Ranging from topics such as ethnic studies and cybersecurity, students can now attend a variety of new classes that offer them a more well-rounded curriculum.

“The class is very important because I have noticed that a lot of us, including myself, don’t know a lot about that part of history of the United States,” said Marta Rodriguez, teacher of the Mexican American Studies class. “It’s very important that they come to the realization that this country hasn’t always been made up of these ethnic groups.”

This is the first year these classes are being provided. Rodriguez teaches sixth period Mexican-American Studies while Brenda Helfing teaches psychology.  AP Calculus online is offered in math teachers’ Lori Seo and Tuan “Duke” Huynh classrooms. A Pierce College communications class is offered in period one currently and next semester, theatre classes will be available in its place. Beyond the Bell and ARC offer a cybersecurity coding class, leadership, art and music classes after-school.

“Understanding how people function and understanding what makes them do what they do, I think that’s important to understand how to treat people,” senior psychology student Ivan Moreno said.

Pierce College’s Communications 101 class teaches students public speaking during its period one run. Students also learn about the different types of speeches, three types of speaking and how to be more eloquent overall.

“We’re learning how to write speeches and speak to a big group of people about certain things,” senior Rosalinda Naba said. “I think it’s important because as soon as we start in more serious careers we’re going to have to learn how to talk more professionally.”

The availability of classes like the ones offered by Pierce College gives students an opportunity to get ahead on college credits and real-life skills, like public speaking. Additionally, classes like Mexican-American studies meet California’s new law requiring that students take an ethnic studies class.

“It’s really interesting,” junior Krisia Vasquez, a student in Mexican-American Studies said. “We have history and in history, we just learn about America but at some point, we want to learn about other history. So in this class, we can learn about our heritage.”