Fenton High is classified as an International Baccalaureate (IB) school, and takes pride in its accelerated offerings. IB classes are classified in two ways, the first being Higher Level courses (HL), which are two-year courses spanning a student’s junior and senior years. The second classification is Standard Level (SL) courses, which are only one year and can be taken either junior or senior year.
FHS offers the opportunity for students to pursue the full IB diploma, and also the opportunity for students to become an IB candidate, which means they take select IB courses, but do not pursue the full diploma itself.
A total of 11 IB courses are offered to juniors and seniors at FHS, and students from select courses have each provided their feedback and shared some of their experiences from each class.
IB English HL year one is taught by English teacher Heather Mulligan, and year two is taught by English teacher Megan Ake. Both years study literary and nonliterary texts, including several novels, graphic novels, poetry, travel documentaries and comedy specials.
“The class is very well structured and has a lot to offer,” senior Ian Mills stated.
IB History HL year one is taught by social studies teacher Patricia Gray, and year two is taught by social studies teacher Matt Place. IB History is a discussion-based class, and the workload tends to be larger in comparison to other courses.
“There is a lot of time spent outside of class reading articles,” senior Landis Canada said. “I would say this class is definitely harder than IB English.”
IB Visual Arts HL year one and year two are both taught by arts teacher Tracy Jambeck and students in this class work across both years to build and improve their arts portfolio.
“The workload is very light and the assignments are spread out,” senior Isabelle Yambrick stated. “However, the arts programs are underfunded, and the IB course is no exception. I think if we had more resources available to us the class would be better as we would have more opportunity to branch out with our art.”
IB Chemistry SL is taught by science teacher Chuck Miller and can be taken in junior year or senior year. Tandem with IB Biology HL, this class is one of the few Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) offerings of the IB curriculum at FHS.
“I loved taking IB Chem last year with Mr. Miller,” senior Josie Xiong said. “He made the class much more bearable to go through, despite the rigorous curriculum. The workload is very little.”
IB Film SL is only one year and is taught by video productions teacher Kevin Smith.
“I enjoy the class a lot,” senior Kyla Marx said. “It provides me with an outlet to express my love for film and everything that goes into making a movie.”
The feedback of current seniors who have taken both years of an HL class is extremely beneficial to rising juniors who are beginning to consider their future courses for their upcoming period as upperclassmen.
