With senior year approaching, junior Lydia Profili was eager to take her first choice electives gym and Sports Medicine.  Profili was nothing but surprised when she received an email last week notifying her that Sports Medicine was no longer being offered.

Last week on Wednesday, May 11, course changes were made to the 2011-2012 school year schedules.  Changes involving Sports Medicine, gym, and foreign language classes will affect a majority of the sophomore and senior classes.   Foreign languages Latin and Russian will not be returning next year.  According to Vice Principal Gary Scholl, changes in the foreign language offerings were based off of low enrollment and staffing issues next year.

Elective changes that will be affecting most seniors are the cancellation of the Sports Medicine and senior gym class. “The move away from Sports Medicine was prompted by staffing requirements. There were no staff available to teach that course next year,” Scholl said.  Students affected by this change were e-mailed throughout last week and attended a meeting on Monday to discuss further actions regarding new class assignments.

Despite the loss of the Sports Medicine course, all students especially interested in the field of sports medicine will still have the opportunity to work with Athletic Trainer Erik Fabriziani in the trainer’s office.  However, for some students, this extra time may not be available.

“They [the administration] said that if you wanted to be in Sports Medicine, you can volunteer your time but most kids don’t have time to do that,” junior Deandra Casados said.

“I got bumped out of gym so I don’t have any electives anymore.  They [my new electives] are going to be my second choices,” Profili said.

Next year, there will not be an Introduction to Computer Science course for the sophomore class.   “It was a very viable course when it was first introduced, but with everyone having their own computers, we realized it lost its value. In its place, we’re asking present freshmen to choose a technology-based elective,” head of guidance Carol Heflin-Shupe said.

According to Scholl, the administration wants to continue a technology requirement for the students and is offering a wide range of new courses available. “The decision was made to end the requirement for Introduction to Computer Science and replace that half-credit requirement with a selection of technology courses and technology-based fine arts courses.”

Animation; Digital Imaging, iPods, Skype, and Beyond; Computer Aided Design (CAD); Multimedia; and Digital Audio Production are now being offered for sophomores as a replacement for Introduction to Computer Science.

Megan Battaglia is a multimedia editor for “The Patriot.”

Additional reporting by Grace Kim.