OHS’s best and brightest students have the option to skip ahead in many of their classes. This can cause them to be able to leave school earlier in the day of both their junior and senior years, depending on what high school credits they may have already completed.
Through freshman to senior year, almost everyone takes one math class and one English Language Arts class. However, certain kids have skipped several grade levels of these core classes because of high ambitions and persuasive encouragement.
“I’m taking Algebra 3-4 this year,” said Jackson Benjamin, freshman. “I did Geometry last year actually, in 8th grade, so this year I was able to skip ahead [to Algebra 3-4].”
Taking Algebra 3-4 as a freshman is an unusual case but not impossible, something Benjamin had to work hard for years to get to.
“I skipped [math] in first grade and kept going up levels from there,” Benjamin said. “I’ve always been in advanced classes.”
Several kids have been in advanced math classes before, pushing them forward on that path of higher education, something much rarer for students to bypass in their English classes.
“I skipped ELA 1-2 because I did it in 8th grade,” said Jackson Cook, sophomore. “So now as a sophomore I’m in AP [English Language Arts] as well as AP Calc.”
Teachers at school do their best to encourage and help students grow intellectually in AP and advanced classes, even if the standard educational system tells them they shouldn’t be there yet.
“If the student is ready, we want to push them,” said Jeffrey Williams, Honors Algebra 3-4 and AP Calculus AB and BC teacher. “We don’t want to hold them back… [we] recommend leveling down if we think a student isn’t quite ready yet, but of course that’s a suggestion on what we think is best.”
The care and supervision of accelerated learning students by OHS administration is very reassuring. No student wants to get a bad grade in their classes, and luckily, the teachers understand this mindset.
“I’ll say, ‘I’m not sure you’re in the right class, and it’s only going to get harder from here.’I kinda leave it up to them you know, if they decide to take the advice or not, that’s on them,” Williams said.
Many students who have skipped course levels admire the prospect of leaving school early. To them, the steps to get there pay off in the end.
“I can get out of school early in my senior and maybe junior year,” Cook said. “I’m on the same path as my sister, so my school years should be relatively the same as hers were.”
Students who are taking this accelerated journey seem to be content with their choice in going ahead of others in their grade. Most do not even appear to think about how they are going ahead of other students.
“I’m happy I did it,” Benjamin said. “The atmosphere in my advanced classes is different from my grade… everyone is more mature and less loud than kids in my grade.”
As the years go on, more and more students continue to take advanced and AP classes above their own grade level. Skipping their regular course classes has seemingly provided early freedom, more opportunities, and better surroundings for those who choose to partake.
