Zach Cicha ’14
Sarah Kang ’14
Zach Cicha ’14 is taking is currently taking Biostatistics and will be taking Botany next semester. “Biostats counts as a math class, and it would give me a basic knowledge of statistics without taking a yearlong course like AP Stats,” Cicha said. “I am pursuing agriculture in college, and botany will give me a chance to work with plants.” Contrary to popular belief that college classes are significantly more difficult than any classes offered at West, Cicha said that the classes aren’t as hard as they’re cracked up to be. “Biostats has been surprisingly easy, but the lecture format is different than classes at West. Instead of 30 people in a class, there may be 70 or Zach Cicha ’14 80,” he said. Cicha has also discovered the ups and downs of college classes compared to classes at high school. “You have more freedom, and it is easier to miss a class than a class at West,” he said. “However, this also means that there is less individual attention from the professor.”
FROM THE
CLASSROOM TO
Sarah Kang ’14 has taken advantage of West’s PSEO program to attend the class Introduction to Social Psychology. “I plan on majoring in psychology, so I figured I might as well take a class and earn a few credits early,” she said. This is her first time taking PSEO classes, and Kang appreciates the opportunity because it allows her to observe college life before entering college next year. “I got a peek at what college life is like by taking this class,” she said. “College is so different from high school. In lecture, they don’t take attendance, so getting notes is your problem. You have to actively seek out help from professors, too. If your Sarah Kang ’14 grades drop, your professor isn’t going to pull you aside and try to help you. Taking PSEO classes teaches you to be more responsible.” Kang has already benefited from taking this PSEO course. “The class helped me to understand people better,” she said. “It also makes practicing patience easier because I now know why people act a certain way. I also learned persuasion techniques, and I can’t wait to use them.”
COLLEGE
COMPILED By Kelsey keranen & Anthony pizzimenti kelseyjanekeranen@gmail.com pizzimentianthony@gmail.com
At West High, we have a few students who go beyond the educational quota and take on PSEOs: Post Secondary Education Options, or classes available for high school students at the University of Iowa. Taking classes ranging from calculus to Chinese, these motivated individuals troop off toward the university several times a week to experience college before they depart high school. art by//leela sathyaputri
Kazimier Smith ’15
Kate Anstreicher ’14
Kazimier Smith ’15, head of the Computer Science Club at West, has used the PSEO program to complete Discrete Structures, a computer science course. “I took AP Computer Science last year and I really enjoyed it, so I wanted to continue taking computer science courses,” Smith said. “I also plan on studying computer science in college, and I think university classes will help me prepare for that.” There are similarities and differences between educational practices at West and at the University. “The class I’m taking is similar to West classes in that we are still expected to do homework Kazimier Smith ’15 outside of class,” Smith said. “However, Discrete Structures is taught in a lecture format to a class of about 100 students, which is very different from West classes.” A main difference between West and university courses is the responsibility factor. “University courses also offer much more freedom: no one will notice if a student doesn’t attend class, and students can do a lot or very little work outside of class,” Smith said. “So the task of being successful is almost entirely up to the students; there is much less guidance than in high school classes.”
Kate Anstreicher ’14 is taking Intro to Sustainability and Basic Acting at the University of Iowa. “I have always loved acting, and since Intro to Theatre at West didn’t fit into my schedule, I decided to register for it at [The University of Iowa],” she said. “I decided to take Intro to Sustainability because I hope to pursue environmental studies or environmental science once I go to college, and I thought it would be good to get a head start,” she said. Between the University and West High, Anstreicher believes there is a definite difference in maturity. “[University] courses force you to act like a college kid,” Anstreicher said. “Everyone with whom I have interacted at UI has been more mature than Kate Anstreicher ’14 high school students, so I had to work on that.” Also, the dependability that rests in the student has to be stepped up to a whole new level. “I also learned how to deal with quick assignment turnaround,” she said. “Unlike high school, when you often have two weeks to write an essay, sometimes in my sustainability class I have had to write a paper in three days.”
8 PROFILES DECEMBER 2013
DESIGN BY//APOORVA RAIKWAR