Second Semester of Senior Year! Let’s go!
By Avani Sethi
When you go to high school in America, there’s this idea you get that your last semester of high school is going to be super carefree and fun. Growing up—more specifically—in the Bay Area, where it feels like everyone is curing cancer and taking the hardest classes, might end up not living up to your expectations of a super easy 2nd semester of senior year. So, here’s some advice from your upperclassmen, who’ve been through the difficult but beneficial 4 years, and found electives they enjoyed and would encourage others to take. An asterisk indicates that the class was the favorite out of all Ohlone courses taken.
English
Class: ENGL-111A Beginning Creative Writing
Semester: Fall Senior Year
Class Type: Online Hybrid
Professor: Prof Brosamer
Description: It’s a basic creative writing class! I love writing fiction (and poetry and stuff), so I decided to take this course even though I’m not majoring in it to see if I could learn new techniques and/or writing styles. And though I didn’t actually learn a whole lot of new stuff, I liked the writing projects and having allotted time to write. It was a super chill class.
Art
Class: ART-121A Introductory Ceramics I
Semester: Spring Senior Year
Class Type: In Person
Professor: K. Frank
Description: This class is a pottery class where we learn to handbuild things with clay and learn the basics of throwing on a wheel. It’s a fun art class, but it can be tough and takes a lot of time and patience at times. Nevertheless, if you want a fun, non-academic class, this one is great (if you have the time to spend because sometimes you need to stay overtime in-studio and stuff)!
Class: Drawing
Semester: Fall, Junior Year
Class Type: Online, Synchronous
Professor: E. Blau
Description: Drawing with Professor Blau covered the very basics of sketching, charcoal, pen, and portraiture. It was very nice to take what I’ve learned about art from my self-taught past, tear it down and rebuild it with an actual art class. I learned a lot, and I’ve seen great improvement in my personal projects as a result. I don’t think it’s inspired a future change, but I am glad I took it, even if it was a bit more challenging than I thought it would be.
Class: MUS112A: Intro to Music Tech
Semester: Spring, Senior Year
Class Type: Asynchronous
Professor: B. Tambling
Description: I’m taking this course right now and I’m really enjoying it. We learn a lot about different techniques in MIDI, amplifiers, sound mixing, waves, beats, and more, and more than anything just get to have fun assembling music. This course isn’t directly related to my major but I am keen on pursuing music more in college and learning more about the technical side of music mixing.
Class: BRDC-136 (Shooting for Cinema and Broadcast)
Semester: Spring, Senior Year
Class Type: In Person
Professor: W. Cruz
Description: In my class, we learn everything about cinematography and the production of film, television, and broadcast. We learn how to use cinema cameras, color correction, framing, composition, writing scripts, and even get to drive to different locations to film. I decided to take this class because I plan on minoring in film and possibly going into the film industry in the future.
Computer Science
Class: CS102 (Intro to Programming With C++)
Semester: Spring, Junior Year
Class type: Online Hybrid
Professor: P. Nguyen
Description: This is a great course to get into the world of coding. I personally already knew some C++ before this course and only took it as a prerequisite for Ohlone’s other computer science courses, but if you’re looking to get into the field, it’s a great place to start. It’s definitely related to my major and it helped build my foundations.
*Class: CS124 (Programming With Data Structures)
Semester: Fall, Senior Year
Class type: In Person
Professor: S. Chenhansa
Description: This class is an introduction to intermediate-level computer science concepts, focusing on algorithms and basic data structures. It is taught in the C++ programming language.
Trust me, if you enjoy CS you must take this class. I’ve been studying CS for many years and I can say that this is the first CS class where I’ve actually been fascinated by the concepts and really understood them well. That’s in part thanks to the professor I took—if you’re taking this course, try your very best to get S. Chenhansa. Her class is challenging but very rewarding.
Keep in mind that Data Structures is a lab course. A word of advice: Take CS-116 (Object Oriented Programming in C++) before taking this course. CS-124 uses a lot of OOP so it’s best to be prepared.
(x3 recommendations)
Class: CS113 (Discrete Structures)
Semester: Spring, Senior year
Class type: In Person
Professor: S. Chenhansa
Description: I’m taking this course right now and it’s really fascinating. You get to understand the math behind a lot of computer science, something which students our age looking to get into CS often overlook. This includes things like set theory and graph theory, which relate to things like networks and dataset analysis. I feel that for someone not applying to the field, it may be a bit niche, but it provides a fantastic foundation and a really cool way to learn about it.
(x2 recommendations)
Physics
Class: PHYS-120 (Introduction to Physics)
Semester: Spring, Junior Year
Class type: Online, Synchronous
Professor: D. Burton
Description: I enjoyed this course a lot. We all took PHYS108 in our first semester, but to be honest, it gives really rudimentary looks at a wide range of physics areas. This course is where you really get to enjoy the problem-solving area of physics, and if you enjoy applied math, it’s for you. I had a great professor too, but I don’t think he’s teaching at Ohlone anymore, unfortunately. You can of course take more advanced physics courses like PHYS 140 (Mechanics) (and you definitely should if you plan to major in physics/engineering/CS) but those are CONSIDERABLY more difficult and not nearly as fun. I will definitely use the foundations I got in this course in the future.
*Class: PHYS-140: Mechanics
Semester: Fall, Junior Year
Class type: Online, Synchronous
Professor: C. Chiang
Description: This class is the first in a series of three advanced physics classes that are required for most engineering majors. If you’ve heard me talk about this class before, then you’ve probably heard me say that it’s the most difficult course I’ve ever taken at Ohlone. However, I think it’s worth it.
Mechanics take many different concepts, ranging from projectile motion to Newton’s laws to angular momentum, and looks at them from a calculus perspective. Remember all those laws and equations from high-school physics? Like the kinematic equations? Well, now you get to learn where they actually come from, using calculus. Try to take Calc II along with this course since it gives some good context for the techniques employed.
If you like math and physics, you might consider taking this course, but keep in mind that it does have lab requirements. If you decide to take Mechanics, try to get C. Chiang. His class is not easy, but you will come out of it with a true understanding of physics.
Biology
Class: Basic Human Anatomy and Physiology (4 units)
Semester: Spring, Junior Year
Class Type: Online, Synchronous
Professor: S. Sarvari
Description: It’s a general and fairly comprehensive survey of the body’s various organ systems. Be warned that this course is the heaviest I’ve taken at Ohlone. There is a lot of reading and memorization of random information about the body (e.g. memorizing all the main arteries, veins, and bones in the body), though tests were open books. It’s definitely very challenging, but if it’s interesting enough for you, you would learn a lot of useful information about how your body works. For example, the veins in your extremities rely on muscle movement to pump blood back to the heart, so moving around contributes directly to your blood flow.
Class: Biol-101B: Principles of Biology
Semester: Spring, Senior Year
Class type: In Person
Professor: J. Baxter
Description: I took the first part of this class last semester which is 101A and it was really challenging but made me love bio so I continued this semester. Baxter is an incredibly hard professor but he will make you realize if you actually want to pursue Biology or if you just thought of it as the default. 101B is still very hard because its a lot of memorization and complex systems and pathways that you really need to understand to do well, but it’s also really interesting because it’s a little more relatable since it’s more about evolution and human systems versus 101A which is more biochem and microbiology. The labs, now that they’re in person are also REALLY fun. This year I’ve dissected everything from a frog to an earthworm to a shark and its been so cool. I also got to blood test myself in class and perform PCR with my DNA! It’s a fun class to nerd out in because everyone else in the class—especially in 101B, is serious about the subject, so I’ve made some great friends and study buddies.
Class: KIN-240: Introduction to Kinesiology
Semester: Spring, Senior Year
Class Type:
Professor: M. Curran
Description: Kinesiology is the study of human movement and in the class, you learn an overview of everything there is to do with the subject. I like how it relates to what I do in sports and other physical aspects of my life. I am not going to pursue kinesiology in the future but it does relate loosely to my major which is nutrition.
Class: CFS-109 Nutrition
Semester: Fall, Junior Year
Class Type:
Professor: J. Kaur
Description: This class was about nutrition in general and how to improve your relationship with food. My favorite aspect of the class was my professor as she was very supportive to all students and encouraged participation outside of the class. I am pursuing nutrition in college and I have my professor to thank for that. I liked the class so much that I decided to join the Ohlone FANS club and we are now promoting healthy eating and nutrition to the Ohlone college student body. I would highly recommend taking this class even if you do not plan to go into science because it promotes a healthy lifestyle and uncovers a lot of the problems present in the American food system.
Political Science
Class: PS-103: Introduction to International Relations
Semester: Fall, Senior Year
Class type: Asynchronous
Professor: K. Michel
Description: It’s about how countries interact with one another and how the policies of international organizations affect the world. It allowed me to better understand the world we are living in and was just a fun class in general with some debate aspects within discussion posts. The class likely wouldn’t change my major. I decided to take it as a fun class to fill my requirements.
Class: PS-105: Introduction to Comparative Politics
Semester: Spring, Senior Year
Class type: Asynchronous
Professor: K. Michel
Description: Dr. Michel is an amazing teacher, and Comparative Politics was my third class with her. I’ve learned a lot about the differences between political and economic structures in different countries and why and how they came to exist. Compared to American Politics and International Relations, I’ve found that Comparative Politics is more grounded because it also focuses on how experiments and data are used in social sciences (specifically political science). All of Dr. Michel’s classes are really well organized, and designed for you to take the concepts you learn in class and apply them to current events. There are a couple of research papers that will take some time to work on, but it’s also a chance to go even more in depth and apply everything you learned in class to the real world and make a compelling argument. I would definitely recommend taking her classes if you’re interested in political science, even if it isn’t related to your major!
Math
Class: MATH-104: Differential Equations
Semester: Spring, Senior Year
Class type: In person
Professor: J. O’Connell
Description: This class is a post-second-semester calculus (MATH-101B) course that further explores the mathematics of differential equations.
The Differential Equations course is when you really start to see how calculus is applied to the real world in countless other fields—physics, economics, population modeling, ecology, and so on. It’s really an amazing course. That said, it’s quite tough, so only take it if you like math. If you do like math, I’d say it’s a must-take.
If you can, get J. O’Connell. His class is challenging but the reward is well worth it, and you learn a lot.
Class: MATH-101C: Calculus III
Semester: Fall, Junior Year
Class type:
Professor: E. Garcia
Description: This class is the third and final calculus foundation course in Ohlone’s progression, mainly focused on multivariable and vector calculus. In my opinion, Calc III is a bit easier than Calc II—challenging but not unbearable. It’s basically Calc I again but applied to multivariable functions and vectors. Good fun if you enjoy math.
I personally liked Calc III because it took things into three dimensions—and consequently, into the real world. You can’t really go wrong with professors for Calc III, but I would personally recommend E. Garcia.
(x3 recommended)
Social Sciences
Class: Cultural Anthropology
Semester: Fall, Junior Year
Class Type:
Professor: S. Chacko
Description: A look into human culture and social anthropology, with an emphasis on how we define things like ethnicity, race, culture, and other key factors in the division of our world. Cultural anthropology was one of my favorite classes in Fall 2021. It was insightful and thought-provoking, and I found myself enjoying the readings more than I thought I would when I originally signed up for the class. It is most certainly unrelated to the major I applied for, but it gave me lots of skills and also some insight into human culture that I think I can apply to my studies in psychology in the future.
Class: ANTH-101: Biological Anthropology
Semester: Spring, Senior year
Class type: In Person
Professor: S. Chacko
Description: This class covers human evolution using familiar topics, like Mendelian genetics and anatomy, to find biological explanations behind the traits and social structures we have today. It’s really cool to understand the logic for how certain traits evolved, including why some people are lactose intolerant and why race is a cultural concept. Dr. Chacko is a great teacher, and her lectures will have you at the edge of your seat at times. This class definitely tempted a future change in major and I’d recommend this class to everyone!!
*Class: AJ-101: Administration of Justice
Semester: Spring, Senior Year
Class Type: In Person
Professor: T. Smith
Description: To put it briefly, it’s an overview of the criminal justice system. I found it especially interesting because it covers a large variety of topics like police deviance, the criminal justice process for minors, and even more specific theories like feminism intersecting with modern criminology. It is not totally unrelated to the major I applied for ( my planned career in psychology with a focus on sociobiological influences on criminal behavior ) and it’s actually inspired me to take a more sociology-focused path when I go on to college. I will admit that Professor Smith is a large part of why I enjoy these classes. He makes the lectures engaging, and funny, and he’s extremely involved with the class and commits time to making sure his students are okay with some of the very heavy topics we discuss in our sessions. I highly recommend him to any of you interested in law, criminology, or criminal justice.
Class: Criminology
Semester: Spring, Senior Year
Class Type: In Person
Professor: T. Smith
Description: An in-depth look at the criminological theory. This class has definitely been my favorite of the five I’m taking this spring semester. It tackles the question of WHY people commit crimes and forces us to take a look at the many different theories and perspectives in the field. I’m taking this class in particular because criminology is what I hope to pursue in the future, and getting an introduction to it at Ohlone— especially since I’ve fulfilled my requirements — seemed like the sensible thing to do.
Class: Introduction to Sociology
Semester: Fall, Junior Year
Class Type: Asynchronous
Professor: J. Jovel
Description: Introduction to Sociology was an overview of sociological theory, and as a result, it had lots of reading, research, and historical analysis. I actually found that that was what I came to enjoy most about the class. It was terribly interesting, and many of the topics we discussed created lots of chatter and buzz in our discussion boards despite it being totally asynchronous ( though that may be due to the nature of those enrolled ). I especially loved the papers and movie analyses we did, they were definitely my favorite part of the class.
Class: Introduction to Philosophy
Semester: Spring, Senior Year
Class Type: Asynchronous
Professor: W. Yuen
Description: It’s a brief survey of philosophy from a historical perspective. I personally have an interest in philosophy, so I decided to give this course a try. Professor Yuen is great. You learn about the various philosophies of eastern sages, the pre-socratics, Socrates, Aristotle, Descartes, and more. There is also a paper assignment where you get to learn about (spend hours researching) a specific philosopher outside the course. Learning philosophy is beneficial and fulfilling in my opinion. But if churning your noggin’ around abstract, metaphysical concepts doesn’t sound fun, then this probably isn’t the course for you.
Advice:
“If you have already decided on what your major is going to be it is always good to choose major-related electives – it’ll demonstrate your interest in the subject on your college applications.”
“The thing you may notice is that my courses indicate a very clear pattern about what kind of field I want to major in. I am both lucky and unlucky in this sense, in that I have a path for myself, but have narrowed my own scope and have an almost insular range of Ohlone courses now. So my advice would be – don’t worry if you don’t know exactly what field you want to go into. Explore a bit and you’ll find a lot of really cool courses. Likewise, if you’re like me and have an idea of what kind of stuff you want to study, you should take the chance to go deep now when the material isn’t as hard as it will be in the future – but also, try a few new, fun courses on the side if you can!”
“And when you’ve got all your required classes done, I suggest taking anything that catches your eye! It’s a bit of a lottery since you never know how good a class is until you actually take it. But by selecting a class on a topic you’re extremely passionate about or interested in, the class will become what YOU make it. I also recommend taking a class with a couple of friends!! I’m taking an elective with a few this semester and it’s made the experience so much better now that we’re in person again and get to chat about homework and have fun after and before classes. Good luck to you all!!!