It is well known that there is an unusually massive class of incoming freshmen to Rolla High School. Most of us were nervous about the challenges of entering into a new school: finding classes, making friends, and passing harder classes. A great way to get a head start in high school is by taking summer school classes. Juniors Isi Crews, Shelby Blake, and Chris Johnson have several summer school recommendations for the class of 2027. 

“P.E. and Health. P.E. over the summer is really fun, you just play games. I personally don’t want to take P.E. during the day because I don’t want to be sweaty and stinky so doing it during the summer is a good alternative. And it’s nice to just get those out of the way,” suggested Blake. 

Physical Education is an extremely popular summer school class, particularly for those who simply want to get their P.E. requirements fulfilled. 

“P.E. is fun. You come in and walk around the gym for 20-ish minutes then you play games for the rest of the day. He also lets us take plenty of breaks periodically. The games range from 9 square to basketball. I would say P.E. teaches you work outs and coping mechanisms. I personally didn’t like taking long walks or playing basketball before that class. Learning to be active and finding activities that make you happy is essential for your physical and mental health,” said Blake. 

Blake also advises taking Health as a summer course, preferring it as a condensed class. 

“I believe Ms. Jenkins teaches Health and Mr. Franks. He is a P.E. teacher at the middle school. I took Health online, which I recommend as well. However, I took Health between eighth grade and freshman year, so I don’t quite recall, but I remember mainly learning about tobacco for some reason. Also, mine was online during COVID, so I don’t think they were as worried about curriculum,” Blake advised. 

While P.E. and Health are two of the most commonly taken summer school classes,Crews recommends a few less traditional courses. 

“I recommend taking every required class you can, specifically government, health, P.E., and Personal Finance. If you want to take a lot of art classes, I recommend taking Beginning 2D Art since it opens up a lot of options for the school year. For Government, the teacher will probably be Loker (it can be a fun class). For Health I had Mrs. Jenkins, but I’m not sure if she still teaches that. Since Ms. Engelbrecht is retiring, I don’t know who’s going to teach 2D Art,” stated Crews. 

Despite the shortened span of days for each class, students still get necessary information from the more academic classes. 

“I recommend U.S. Government as a summer school class for incoming freshmen. Mr. Loker teaches the class in the summer and I have taken it myself. The class goes over the different branches of government, different levels of government, how bills and laws are made, and documents such as the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. We do some projects and tests, such as a proposal for a 28th amendment, a slideshow about one of our presidents, a citizenship test, and an EOC,” said Johnson. 

Summer school classes are a great way to learn quickly without having to take up a slot in the school year. 

“I took the morning block from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., and we had three sessions with two breaks in between. This class has helped me with my future because I am more aware of the inner workings of our country, such as how congress functions with the Senate and the House of Representatives. I recommend this class to incoming freshmen because it’s easy, you can get it out of the way during the summer, and you learn some pretty interesting things,” said Johnson. 

Although many summer school classes are fun to attend, Crews advises to take particular classes as condensed summer classes for the simple purpose of not prolonging the experience. 

“All of these classes are going to have times when they’re boring, I recommend them for summer school not because they are the funnest classes ever, but because it’s so much better to get them out of the way,” admitted Crews.“Most of these classes are required to graduate and you probably won’t need 70% of the information you learn from them…but it’s better than having to sit through them over the school year.” 

Taking summer school classes as incoming freshmen has many benefits, such as becoming acquainted with the school’s layout and making it possible to graduate early. For the most part, summer school is actually enjoyable. 

“Summer school is also good to keep me on my toes and not end up sleeping in all summer,” said Blake. “If you can, take a summer school class with a friend! That’s what I’m doing. It’ll be so much more fun that way. Summer school and school in general doesn’t have to be a boring chore that you hate. You are allowed to make it enjoyable for yourself and to try to make it as fun as you can. That’s the best way to not lose your mind throughout school.”