Between April and June, College of the Canyons (COC) is registering students who are willing to take classes over summer for credit. The summer intersession at COC is the most popular time for high school students to take classes covering a variety of subjects.
According to its website, COC’s mission is to offer an “accessible, enriching education that provides students with essential academic skills and prepares students for transfer education, workforce-skills development, and the attainment of learning outcomes corresponding to their educational goals.”
The available classes are often exciting. Classes don’t have to be requirements for high school credits, as COC also offers classes to fit individual interests. Many classes, ranging from Anthropology to Wine Studies to Theater and Music, are more fun, hands-on, and interactive than the normal History or English classes in high school.
“Students can go ahead and take classes in advance to receive college credit. They will automatically get college credit [if they pass the classes], and will not have to worry about taking the AP exam,” said Lois Kim, a junior at West Ranch High School who is taking summer classes this year, to JSR.
Seniors who have previously taken summer classes have also chimed in with their positive experiences.
Miguel Samano, a West Ranch senior, took 13 COC classes in order to learn more about the basics of becoming a better debater and apply the strategies to his studies.
“Taking COC classes helped me so much, knowledge-wise. I wanted to major in Sociology at one point because of the Sociology 101 class,” Samano said.
He continued, “I tutor current high school students and give them advice my professors from COC told me. I have acquired strategies of argumentation which have helped me make better connections in my classes at West Ranch and really prepared me for the bunch of college essays I had to complete.”
Yet, not all students agree that taking classes is the best way to spend the summer.
Sabrina An, another West Ranch junior, said, “I think these summer classes might be beneficial if students actually took them to learn and because they are interested. Taking classes for solely the purpose of boosting GPAs is not too reasonable.”
An continued, “I could be spending my time doing other things such as traveling, being involved in subjects I actually like, and trying to find out my real passions.”
