What do Alfred Hitchcock, John Lennon, and Charlie Manson all have in common? They are all part of the curriculum for the new class, Famous Figures, which is taught by Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith, a history teacher at IHS has been teaching for 12 years. This course entails multiple units, ranging from cults to heroes.
If you are looking for a new history elective, Famous Figures is the perfect match for you. Mrs. Smith always keeps you on your toes with fun projects. You learn a lot from this class and it’s cool information that really sparks the mind. This course does not have any tests. If you take it for an honors credit, you will be assigned to read a book, which you will have an occasional quiz on, but it is completely manageable.

It is a quarter class, and this year she is teaching two quarters of it, both during second period. Any grade level can take this elective. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t enjoy US history; this is a totally different curriculum and it’s really interesting. When asked about her new class Mrs. Smith said, “A big reason I started this class was because students I had in US history II would come up to me and ask questions about specific people and topics that weren’t going to be covered in class. It has had a very positive review.”

There are many units in Famous Figures. Those units are Villains, Heroes, Artists, Entertainers, and Mysteries. All of these specific units then go into more depth of people such as Jim Jones, Charles Manson, Banksy, Dr. Seuss and other very famous and not so famous people. These people are not covered during a regular history class because their lives are so unique they need more time to be taught then other history classes allow.

Mrs. Smith is a history teacher at Ipswich and has been teaching here for about 12 years. She has two kids and a husband.
Students who have taken her first quarter class gave it two thumbs up. Olivia Moutevelis, a senior at Ipswich High School who looks forward to attending to University of Rochester next year to play Division 3 lacrosse, was a student who took the class first quarter. “I really enjoyed the class. One of my favorite units we learned was about Cults. Jim Jones was an interesting topic. To learn about the tragedies that took place there really moved me. I also enjoyed the villains unit, where Alli and I looked into the evils of Abby Lee Miller from the Lifetimes hit show “Dance Moms”.

Many of her students had positive reviews on the class.
In this class you can really enhance your knowledge on the little details or the events you didn’t really know a lot about. A big event covered, also, is the tragic events of Columbine High School. We don’t learn about this in a regular history class because it is so recent.

Famous Figures is a great class to take and has been recommended by all of the students who have taken it. If you are looking for a fun way to learn about unique history, Famous Figures is the class for you.