Representatives for various electives visited Joaquin Moraga and Stanley Middle Schools in an effort to publicize their programs and encourage the incoming freshmen to sign up. The visits took place on January 29 and 30, respectively.

The Friday visit to Stanley convened in the middle school’s library. Among the high school course offerings described to the current 8th graders included art, yearbook, choir, wood-shop, drama, photo, video production, journalism, German, French and Mandarin.

Senior Sarah Chu, yearbook Editor-in-Chief, said, “I think it went really well. The students seemed pretty interested, and it was a little bit long, but I think they paid attention. For yearbook I talked about how awesome it was, explained a breakdown of how the class ran and how it was different from other electives that they could choose. So it gave them a good option to get all the details for it.”

Freshman Elena Koshkin, who promoted video production, said, “I thought they went great and that the kids really learned a lot about what Campo has to offer for them. I talked about the creativity that goes into producing and making the films for video production. I mostly talked about how there’s a lot of different sides like producer, editor, even actor, so the kids could know there’s a lot of things they could do to get involved. It’s not just about the technology aspect of it.”

Junior Olivia Carver, a wood shop veteran, said, “I thought it was good. There were even some things I learned from having the speeches presented. I think everyone did a good job of explaining all the facets of their job. I just talked about the passion for woodworking that I’ve developed through taking the course, and I tried to explain how the break in the day really makes a difference for me.”

Nevertheless, the younger audience wasn’t completely attentive. Chu said, “I think they were pretty receptive, definitely towards the end of it some of them got a little bit bored, but for the most part I think it was alright.”

Koskin agreed. “I think they were a little bored or scared, because they didn’t ask questions. Maybe they were interested in their head, but the looks on their faces didn’t show it. Some kids were even talking during it, so that was rude,” she said.

Koshkin explained, “The elective visits were actually one of the main reasons why I chose video production. They were really enthusiastic and passionate about all the electives. That got me thinking that I want to be that person who’s so passionate about what they do. That really opened my eyes to how many opportunities there are in high school.”

Carver said, “I think it’s a really good thing that we do, trying to explain all the different things, because otherwise you might just get to high school and be like ‘oh, I’m just gonna do what everyone else is doing.’ It gives people the opportunity to understand the things available to them, like I don’t know if I would’ve joined wood-shop or choir if I hadn’t have seen everything.”