Here is a compiled list of my ten favorite classes at FA. Aside from this article being a fun reflection for myself (the main reason for writing it if we are being honest), I also hope for younger students to try and take some of the classes that I mention. I also want to make clear my bias towards humanities classes, and acknowledge that I have had amazing experiences in many other classes that are not listed here. I tried to keep the descriptions focused on what each class was like, my takeaways, and favorite memories from it (it is mostly not focused on the teacher). With that being said, I am beyond thankful to all of the dedicated faculty, staff, and administration that has helped make my academic experience at FA so special!
- Digital Design and Illustration 1 (9th Fisk)
Digital Design and Illustration 1 served as a bright block to look forward to during the second semester of my freshman year. As someone who both enjoys and has much respect for visual art, but is frankly awful at creating it, I especially appreciated Ms. Fisk’s consistent patience. I had a lot of fun using Procreate for the first time, and enjoyed the funny class-wide conversations that we had while working on projects. My positive experience in this class was definitely indicative of the similarly novel and enjoyable times that I would go on to have in each of my other art electives.
- AP Seminar (12th Hertrick)
AP Seminar is a class that I have found pretty difficult. With assignments and tasks that seem straightforward at first glance, a lack of focus on research writing and presenting in many of my previous classes has made them hard to complete at a high level. Nonetheless, this area is also where my biggest value in the class lies. I have felt my reading comprehension, research writing, and presentation skills all improve throughout my time in the class. Furthermore, the class has an environment where all students of different interests can really have fun, due to the research projects primarily revolving around self-chosen ideas.
- AP Micro/Macroeconomics (12th Hayes)
It is not often, or ever usually, that one gets to take an AP class from one of the curriculum’s creators. However, that is the exact experience that students who take AP Micro/Macroeconomics get by learning from Mr. Hayes. As Mr. Hayes expectedly takes the class through the curriculum clearly and efficiently, he also makes time to apply the content to current events. In a time where there are some impactful, to say the least, decisions being made on a macroeconomic level, I have appreciated this aspect of the class the most.
- English 10 (11th Hertrick)
10th grade English is responsible for a huge chunk in my growth as a writer so far. This class is really where I started to understand the importance of analyzing language in crafting a better literary analysis argument. Developing this skill while working with some of my favorite books in the FA curriculum, like Things Fall Apart, helped me a lot entering the work-filled English 11 that next year. Additionally, through work with great poets like Claude McKay and fun outdoor poetry writing, poetry changed from the unit I was least looking forward to in English 10, to my favorite one of the course.
- AP U.S. History (11th Brennan)
AP U.S. History was an experience… As someone who really enjoys history, it was frustrating to sometimes have to quickly move on from topics that could deserve more air time. Although Lincoln was supposed to die by Christmas, but he really died in our class by February, we made our way through all of the material with engaging lessons. With wild Mr. Brennan jokes flying more frequently the more crunched we seemed to get with time, the class ultimately ended up being an awesome experience where we learned a lot but still had a good time.
- AP European History (10th Delaney)
AP Euro holds a special place in my heart as my first ever AP. I was a little intimidated by the new workload at first, but Ms. Delaney’s Key Concept Outlines helped keep me on track. The DBQ and LEQ skills that I developed in Euro allowed me to focus more on content in my future AP histories. Along with fun projects like the Enlightenment salon discussion, my favorite Euro memory has to be the French Revolution music video (feat. Ms. Delaney, Mr. Brennan, and Mr. Louissaint) that I created with Matt Martin ‘25 as our post AP-exam project.
- Honors International Relations (GSS) (12th Hayes)
I enjoyed taking IR a lot because of its really good balance between workload and fun. We got through a lot of content ranging from IR theory to important global history that helped us better understand the diplomatic conflicts we were discussing. I learned a lot in IR during the first semester, and it was one of those classes that I ended up really wishing ran for a full year. Some fun highlights include the (very Quakerly) diplomatic war game that we played at the beginning, and the current events trivia game that we would play at the end of every class.
- 1960s: The Decade That Changed Everything (12th Brennan)
Although 60s is probably my shortest class, coming during the second semester of my senior year, I have loved every minute of it. Getting a more in-depth look at topics like McCarthyism, the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, JFK, the Vietnam War, and more fostered dynamic conversations that I loved taking part in with a group of very engaged students in the class. The readings are also super interesting, with corresponding journal responses that I have enjoyed probably spending a little too much time on.
- AP African American Studies (11th Moonsammy)
AP African American Studies is one of the most important classes that I have taken at FA because it heavily expanded my perspective on issues of race, class, and identity. Lessons often surrounding narratives that were both captivating and gut-wrenching worked to uplift black resilience while giving space to acknowledge injustice– Ms. Moonsammy’s goal in teaching the class. Because the class was scattered with very diverse perspectives, the environment was brought away from being an echo chamber, and instead towards a place where different ideas and backgrounds could work together to reach a deeper understanding of concepts.
- Philosophy (11th Hertrick)
Taking Philosophy was amazing because it was the first time where thinking about how to be a good person, and what that entails or even means, was a course’s primary focus rather than a related thing to think about. Reading How to Be Perfect by Michael Schur was a really fun way to try and digest complicated theories of morality with an enjoyable tone of humor throughout (10/10 recommend the read). Our work with political philosophy was equally as interesting and worked well with the basic foundation in moral philosophy that we created. Other highlights include even kinds of depressing topics, like existentialism, which were made interesting and fun by reading light-hearted comics and having engaged conversations in class. The class’s value was represented in our final class discussion surrounding whether or not Philosophy should be a high school graduation requirement. Although the course only ran for one semester last year, I really hope that it can not only return soon, but eventually become a class that most students will take at least once in high school.
