By Sally Portman ’13 Contributor
Scheduling season has arrived and students were asked to make decisions on classes for next year. One phrase stuck in the minds of many CCDS students after this year’s scheduling assembly: while many students take all 5 honors and AP classes yearly, very few take all 5 honors and AP classes well. While this is a common warning during the scheduling process, are students really taking it to heart, or is CCDS just a school of overachievers?
In determining the right schedule, worrying about college admission is constantly on the minds of many. Others know that it is important to see the big picture.
Freshman Sophie Weinstein said that she “think[s] it is important to have a balance between school work, sports, and other extra-curriculars.” This balance must be carefully designed by students, parents, teachers and advisors. Director of Scheduling Mr. Matthew Dahl said he sees “a pretty good amount of checks and balances,” with all parties keeping the students best interest in mind. These checks and balances help prevent students from being overloaded with too much work, and the debilitating burnout that can follow.
While all the new work will start next fall, turning in the schedules and deciding on classes now can be almost as stressful. When choosing her course load, Kathryn Black ’11 said that, “ I just sign up for the hardest classes with the idea that if it becomes clear that the course load is too much for me, I can always drop down into another class.”
On the other hand, freshman George Koglmeier “decide[s] the level of the courses [he] plan[s] to take based on a combination of what [he] want[s] to do, what [he] can do, and what [he] want[s] to do when [he is] older.”
Although many feel the stress and choose to push themselves harder, according to Mr. Dahl, “the number of kids trying to take honors classes has remained more or less constant” throughout his years at CCDS.
CCDS offers so many new and different opportunities both inside and outside the classroom, it is important to take advantage of all the options and make the most of everything happening in the CCDS community. When asked if the school environment pushed her academically, Black said “Definitely. CCDS has that kind of environment–and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.”
Photo by Ilana Habib, 11, Photography Editor