Do you feel limited by the bleak course offerings at Ipswich High School? Although IHS offers various electives in music, science, visual arts, social sciences, and engineering, as well as many advanced placement classes, some students wish to dive into a more specific topic that IHS simply doesn’t have the capacity to offer. However, students actually have the opportunity to enroll in a much wider array of courses than you might think, even if they aren’t taught directly by IHS teachers.
Through VHS, or Virtual High School, students can elect to take online courses from a list of over 275 classes. VHS offers a variety of courses including American Sign Language, Business Law, Early Childhood Education, Horror Writers, Oceanography, and Veterinary Medicine. They also offer many advanced placement courses and languages. With this multitude of unique offerings, you are bound to find a class that piques your interest.
VHS classes are primarily reserved for seniors at IHS, but juniors may also elect to take them. Ms. Collura, the vice principal at IHS who facilitates the administration of these online courses, told me, “99% of students get their first choice [of a VHS course] because VHS usually has a lot of spots available in each of the courses they offer.”
These courses are taught by teachers from different geographical areas and students are assigned to small classes consisting of about twenty students from around the world. Each week, students receive new assignments ranging from discussions, textbook reading, videos, blog posts, essays, and research projects. New assignments are posted every Wednesday and are due each Tuesday at midnight, giving students a flexible schedule to complete their weekly assignments. At IHS, students are given a free block in their schedule to work on these assignments in the library.
Sam Jones, a senior at IHS who took Video Game Design on VHS last semester, said, “I’m glad I took [the video game design course], but I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody else. I went into the class with some coding experience but I think it would be too hard for someone else. For it being a CP2 class it wasn’t worth the work I had to put in.” Despite his negative comments, he did, however, still elect to take another VHS course this spring: IT Fundamentals. Although Sam doesn’t think VHS is for everyone (or, at least, the specific course he took isn’t), he plans on majoring in computer science in college, so these courses have been beneficial to him.
Celina Satter, another senior at IHS, is taking AP Human Geography on VHS this year. When asked what her favorite part about the course is, she said, “It allows me to explore things that are happening in the world.” She passionately talked about a “really interesting” assignment she had where she researched human issues in Africa, which she claimed gave her the opportunity to learn about things that she otherwise “would have never known about.” Celina even went so far as to say, “Taking this class was the best decision I made.”
So… is it worth it to take a VHS course? According to Celina, “If you’re taking a VHS class, it should be something that you’re interested in, because otherwise it just becomes a drag to do the work.” For many, the hardest part about VHS classes has nothing to do with the courses themselves: it is time management. Celina told me, “Even though we have the set block in school, it’s hard to prioritize it.”
So, if you are a procrastinator or are terrible at managing your time, VHS may not be the right choice for you. But if you enjoy working independently and are eager to study a specific subject that IHS does not offer, then VHS can be a great option.
