Now that my time at magnet is coming to an end, I decided to review every class I’ve taken at Magnet. Hopefully someone will find this helpful!

Freshman Year

Principles of Engineering w/ Mrs. Aydlette

I will be the first to admit that I was not the biggest fan of P.O.E because I am a terrible engineer. I could not ever build a project correctly. I could not ever design something correctly and would have to redesign my projects every time we assembled them. The most infamous project I’ve ever done was the Rube Goldberg… I hated that project more than anything. It took me forever and it was really bad. I was just really bad at P.O.E so it’s not the fault of the class or Mrs. Aydlette. 

• Special Award: Class I Was Worst At

French 1 w/ Mr. Jent

French 1 was the first class I ever had during high school. Seeing Mr. Jent first thing in the morning every other day was a little bit stressful at some points, but I had fun in this class. French 1 is really low stakes and there’s not a lot of memorization you have to do. I remember the final was a little tricky, but overall this wasn’t that bad. However, French 1 included Mr. Jent’s infamous cards, which were the bane of my existence during Freshman year. 

• Special Award: Most Likely to Stress You At At 8 A.M

Geometry Honors w/ Mrs. Yackey

I didn’t think that geometry was super hard on the whole. It’s also very important for the SAT so be sure to study hard while you’re taking it. I loved Mrs. Yackey and that she would regularly give us half of the class to do homework. Appreciate geometry while you can! However, I am not super good at math and the vocabulary got me sometimes. Also, I couldn’t write this review in good conscience without singing the praises of Mrs. Yackey who still, to this very day, says “Hello I love you!” every time she sees me. 

• Special Award: Most Likely To Receive Candy

Honors Human Geography w/ Mrs. Etikerentse

The primary source documents were really what got me with this class. The lectures were fast and packed with information and the tests could be very tricky at times (I was known for arguing with her for points back), but the real kicker were those primary source documents… Mrs. E doesn’t believe in grade inflation so you have to work really hard to get an A in this class. 

• Special Award: Most Difficult Classwork

Honors Biology w/ Mr. McCormick

Yet another really hard class. Part of the difficulty comes from the switch from middle to high school style science classes, but also the concepts are just difficult to understand. The tests are really hard and the lab reports are hard to complete. It’s a Magnet rite of passage. Even the “easy” parts of this class are more challenging than most other classes I’ve taken. I did like biology and found it very interesting, but there were times that I studied for a week before, after, and during school for a test.

• Special Award: Class I Studied the Most For

English 1 Honors w/ Ms. Shifflette

I know Ms. Shifflette doesn’t teach this class anymore, but from what I remember it was a lot of work. I feel like she toned down the difficulty a little bit because it was the COVID year, but it was not an easy class. There were a lot of essays and a lot of short answer questions that seemed to pop up over and over. I do have fond memories of my experience with this class. 

• Special Award: Most Time Spent on Zoom

P.E w/ Coach Koll

PE is a classic magnet class. It’s PE. It’s so fun. There were parts of the class that were annoying; the warm ups across the gym floor, for example. One time I hit coach Koll in the head with a ping pong ball, very sorry about that!

• Special Award: Most Happy Memories

Sophomore Year

French 2 w/ Dr. Altman

I really miss French 2. I loved this class a lot. Dr. Altman is a good teacher but doesn’t ever make the class super difficult. Also, don’t tell her I said this, but if you try it’s really easy to get her off on tangents. I remember once we spent about half of a class talking about gas stations and bread. Enjoy your time in French 2 because it’s the easiest level of the language at magnet. 

• Special Award: Most Time Off Topic

Chemistry 1 Honors w/ Mr. DeVenio

I have really fond memories of this class. I remember it being interesting and not super complicated. The only topic I remember struggling with was stoichiometry, but once you get the hang of it it’s not that difficult. Mr. DeVenio also goes through the material very slowly and allows for lots of time in class to do the assignments. 

• Special Award: Most Times I Got Yelled At

Algebra II Honors w/ Mrs. Renes

To be honest I don’t have that much to say about this class. It was hard, but it’s a pretty run of the mill math class. If I remember correctly there are a lot of opportunities for extra credit on the tests, so always shoot for the bonus! I love Ms. Renes though.

• Special Award: Most Meditation Time

English 2 Honors w/ Mrs. Lankford

My English 2 class was so fun. I loved the salons where you bring in food that was themed to the book too. I don’t have much else to say. Appreciate this class while you are in it because English starts getting a lot harder Junior + Senior year. 

• Special Award: Most Baked Goods

AP World History w/ Mr. Garris

I LOVED AP World. I thought it was so interesting and fun. The simulations were always so fun even though I always got the bad starting place and would always lose. Mr. Garris is the smartest person I’ve ever met in my life and he’s a great teacher too. The tests are really difficult but Mr. Garris is a really generous grader. 

• Special Award: Most AP Exam Confidence

AP Biology w/ Mrs. Phillips

AP Bio was my favorite class mostly because I really enjoy biology. But also, Mrs. Phillips is an amazing teacher that prepares her students really well for the AP exam, but also for life in college. I remember a lot of what I learned in AP Bio and I really didn’t study for the exam that much. There were a lot of difficult tests and FRQs, but in the end it was worth it because I have almost all fond memories (except for FRQ Fridays…). I give this class my highest recommendation!

• Special Award: Favorite Class 

Junior Year

AP Environmental Science w/ Ms. Langley

I will always fondly remember APES because of the illustrative examples Langley uses to describe environmental science. Whether it be paper airplanes or burning a spoon with a lighter, they definitely helped illustrate the processes of the natural world. 

• Special Award: Favorite Activities

AP U.S History w/ Mr. Crye

As far as I can tell your experience with APUSH will change a lot based on the teacher. I really liked going to APUSH because Mr. Crye’s approach to the material was very relaxed. We spent more time on the interesting stuff while still letting us focus on what we needed to know. Funnily enough, the AP exam focuses a lot on the niche subjects, so Mr. Crye’s interest based approach was good for helping us understand the patterns of history. The tests were also very straightforward. It is bumped down a little bit because of the fact that the AP Exam is very hard. Mr. Crye’s approach also seemed to service his students because most of us got the same scores as the other people taking APUSH in the school. 

• Special Award: Most Catchphrases 

French 3 Honors w/ Mr. Jent

This class is very hard because you learn like 20 grammatical tenses in this class and it goes at a crazy pace. Mr. Jent has these cards that he uses to call on people and those cards will get you every time. The class is stressful, but it doesn’t have a bunch of work outside of class (other than the homework which isn’t that hard) and only parts of the year are really difficult. If you get nervous easily, you might have a heart attack with Mr. Jent as your teacher. He has made many of my classmates cry. 

• Special Award: Most Stressful

Honors Pre-Calculus w/ Mr. Percy

This is an infamously difficult class for a number of reasons. The amount of work, the tests, the concepts are all really hard. To do well in pre-cal you have to study a lot and do a lot of practice. The first half of pre-cal is hard, but the second half felt like an avalanche most of the time. I’m not a super math-y person and I really struggled at some points in the year. No matter who you have, pre-cal is rough. 

• Special Award: Hardest Math Class

AP Physics 1 w/ Mr. Flo

This is by far the most difficult class I have ever taken. It’s not difficult because of the amount of work, but just because the concepts are so difficult to understand. It’s deceptively simple when you look at the formula sheet and see the world “algebra” in the course title, but Physics 1 is SUPER hard. However, I found that it was very rewarding, especially in Calc AB. Mr. Flo is very helpful and will spend a lot of time answering any question that you have. He really wants to see his students succeed. There were many times where I sat down with him for like an hour doing his planning period without any complaints. Be warned, though, that this class is extremely difficult and it is very hard to do well on the test, even with corrections and the FRQ curves. 

• Special Award: Hardest Overall

AP Seminar w/ Ms. Vann

There were parts of AP Seminar that were really tedious but on the whole I really liked the class. It’s very self guided, so if you’re interested in what you’re studying you’ll have a good time taking it. Plus we played Family Feud at the end of the year. I had this class 1A and it was always a great way to start the day! 

• Special Award: Best Parties

AP English Language and Composition w/ Mrs. Grayson

AP Lang was also so fun. Mrs. Grayson is such a good teacher that she makes the class enjoyable all the time. I didn’t like reading Grapes of Wrath and the reading quizzes were always so hard, but I loved the class on the whole. One time I hastily drew a picture for my salon prop and Mrs. Grayson still gave me full credit for it, which I will always be grateful for. One day Mrs. Grayson just told us stories for like half an hour and they were really good. 

• Special Award: Most Spock

Senior Year

Honors Economics w/ Ms. Orr

I love honors econ with Ms. Orr! It’s very interesting and informative, and most importantly it’s not very difficult. As a second semester senior I really appreciate how Ms. Orr is such an engaging lecturer and often incorporates relevant examples from pop culture into her lectures. She is really good at explaining complicated concepts in a very simple way. I highly recommend taking this class – your future you will thank you. Also, econ is obviously super relevant to our every day lives. 

• Special Award: Most Fictional Businesses

AP English Literature and Composition w/ Mrs. Bortz

I enjoy the texts that we read in AP Lit, but the assignments are really challenging sometimes and the time management required to succeed in this course is sometimes difficult. There was one point in AP Lit where we were reading a play, writing an essay about that play, reading another novel, doing sketch notes for that novel, taking quizzes on that novel, and writing blogs about poetry. While Mrs. Bortz does give us the schedules for the assignments far in advance and is very lenient with extensions as long as you come and talk to her well in advance, sometimes this class can make your head spin. However, again, Mrs. Bortz does make it possible to succeed because the due dates for the assignments are spread out over months. 

• Special Award: The Larissa Bortz “We Don’t Want Them Anyways” Consolation Award
• 2nd Special Award: Most Artistic

AP Calculus AB w/ Mrs. Renes

The second go around with Mrs. Renes was far more difficult than the first one. Calculus is really hard, but me and Mrs. Renes’s teaching methods mesh really well together. She goes very slowly and methodically through everything, and I’ve found that she’s really good at explaining the difficult concepts. I would definitely recommend taking this class now because I’m pretty sure most colleges will make you take calculus and you can probably test out of it if you do well on the exam.

• Special Award: Most Time Spent on Homework Review

AP French Language and Culture w/ Dr. Altman

AP French is not like the other levels of French where you learn vocabulary and grammar. It’s all reading, writing, speaking, and listening. This is not for the faint of heart. If you aren’t dead set on becoming a really good French student, then you’re done for. The workload (especially in the second semester) is literally relentless. I do feel very confident in my ability to speak/listen/write/read in French as a result of this class, though. My Stamps scores improved quite significantly. 

• Special Awards: Most Conversations and Cultural Comparisons and Argumentative Essays and Listening Comps and Reading Comps

Marine Science Honors w/ Mrs. Metzner-Roop

Marine science does not have a lot of super difficult concepts (at least later on in the year) but it does involve a LOT of memorization and a LOT of assignments. To do really well in marine you need to study a lot (at least in my case) and not a lot of the material is intuitive. There are just a lot of little details about different kinds of fish or ecosystems or plants to remember. Marine isn’t hard per se, but it takes a lot of studying. 

• Special Awards: Most Anus References

AP Research w/ Mrs. Smith

This one is a no brainer. Although it is true that you can control how much work you have to do in general with AP Research (APR as Mrs. Smith says), it is extremely difficult to avoid the highlighting self edits, pages of source finding, and academic posters that you have to complete. While the amount of work likely contributes to a high level of quality in Mrs. Smith’s students, it does feel like Research is a little overwhelming sometimes. She does give lots of time in class to complete the assignments, though, and if you try very hard you can probably get them all done on time without a lot of homework. However, most students with Mrs. Smith have a lot of late nights in their senior year ahead of them. If you get another teacher, your experience might be very different from mine. 

Mrs. Smith was worried that I would call her a bad teacher in this article. It’s true that she has high expectations for her students. However, assigning a lot of work and having these high standards does not make her a bad teacher. In fact, I think you could ask anyone in all three of her research classes and they would all tell you the same thing. She’s hard on her students, but she gets good results.

• Special Award: Most Highlighting

AP U.S Government and Politics w/ Ms. Orr

AP Gov is really interesting to me and she was a really great teacher. I will say that you have to read the textbook to do well on the tests, but in general this class isn’t super difficult and its very fun with Ms. Orr. Everything I said for Econ holds true.

• Special Award: Most Real World Applications

Newspaper Production w/ Ms. Hurt

Newspaper is my favorite part of my B-Day! Shoutout to Ms. Hurt. I always wanted to take Newspaper ever since I was a freshman and it didn’t disappoint. I have really enjoyed writing articles for the Talon

• Special Award: Most Legacy Leaving

Now that my time at magnet has come to an end, I can reflect back on my time here mostly fondly. I can’t say that I will miss it here, but I have definitely learned a lot.