Course Selection Information for the 2024-25 School Year
What’s New for 2024-25?
* 256S True Crime and Literature 2 (see details in Informational Documents section below)
* 287F "Total Body Conditioning" is now "Group Fitness"
* 362F "Honors Pre-Calculus" is now "AP Pre-Calculus"
* 397F AP Physics C
* 493F AP African American Studies (see new video in Videos column)
* 589S Ceramics 2
* 594S Sculpture
- Find course descriptions for all courses in the 2024-25 Course Selection Guide
Click on the sections below for resources and information
We hope you use the career information resources to connect your courses to careers!
DATES & DEADLINES
Dates and Deadlines
POWER, TOWER and EMPOWER APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE!
See links for the applications and their December deadlines below!!
December 4 - 8 Class Connections Week! Teacher Advisement / Recruitment / Recommendation Days!
Teachers of freshmen through juniors will provide students with information, advise them and make recommendations for next year
Friday, December 8 Level Up! Fair during all lunch periods. Students pledge to level up by taking dual credit, honors or AP courses in their favorite areas of interest
January 2024 (exact dates tbd) During Connecting to Wellness, PE, Health, Driver Ed & JROTC 1 classes, Shepard Counselors will provide students with the information they will need to choose their courses for next year.
Freshmen will meet in the MPR
Sophomores and Juniors will meet in the. (TBD)
Jan 16 - Feb 2 Counselors will begin meeting with students individually during their English classes to help them finalize their course selections.
Period | Tue Jan 16 | Wed Jan 17 | Thu Jan 18 | Fri Jan 19 | Mon Jan 22 | Tue Jan 23 | Wed Jan 24 | Thu Jan 25 | Fri Jan 26 | Mon Jan 29 | Tue Jan 30 | Thu Feb 1 | Fri Feb 2 |
1 | Smith | Burmeister | Carleson/ Burke | Gehrke | Sonne/ Heenan | Weber | Shaughnessy | Graham | |||||
2 | Burke | Perkins | Marquez | Mallet | Huffman | Smith | Durkin | Rodrigues | Dahlin | Carleson | Graham | Gehrke | |
3 | Graham | Heenan | Marquez | Gehrke | Dahlin | Friesema | Shaughnessy | ||||||
4 | Schout & Valiska | Burmeister | Durkin | ||||||||||
5 | Burke | Smith | Sonne/ Heenan | Dahlin | Kay | Shaughnessy | Graham/ Punzi | ||||||
6 | Heenan | Smith | Mallet | Huffman | Durkin | Sonne | Gehrke | ||||||
7 | Marquez | Burmeister | Carleson/ Burke | Smith | Sonne/ Heenan | Shaughnessy | Graham/ Punzi | Dahlin | |||||
8 | Marquez | Carleson/ Burke | Gehrke | Rodrigues | Kay | Shaughnessy | Dahlin |
Deadlines for students to enter their course requests into Skyward:
Window in Skyward will open for students on Wednesday, January 10th
Class of 2025 - Monday, January 15, 2024 11:59pm
Class of 2026 - Monday, January 22, 2024 11:59pm
Class of 2027 - Sunday, January 28, 2024 11:59pm
Incoming Class of 2028 - Tuesday, January 23, 2024 11:59pm
Monday, February 5, 2024 Last day to finalize Next Year Course Selections. All applications and documents must be turned in to Counseling by this date. (ie Independent Study Forms).
February, March & April Students and parents are able to view future courses entered into Skyward by looking in the Graduation Requirements screen. This is the time when the Master Schedule is planned and no requests for changes can be made.
May 1 - 22, 2024 Students who have changed their minds about courses for next year may request to see their counselor. Every effort will be made to make the requested changes if there are seats available. It is very important to make wise and thoughtful choices in January so that the district can plan enough seats in requested courses but if goals and interests change, this is the time to meet with the counselor to discuss possible changes.
RESOURCES
Resources to help students make wise decisions about their future courses
- See the Course Selection Guide above for prerequisites, course descriptions and more!
- Worksheets: See documents below
- Videos on the right and other promotional materials below
- Resources on the Career Counseling tab on the right
- CHSD218 Programs of Study: Sample 4 year plans related to various Career areas
- Find out how to earn college credit while still in high school! See the MVCC dual credit info
- Dual Enrollment Opportunities
- Find out how to earn industry certifications while still in high school! See Certification in CTE
STUDENT COURSE SELECTION WORKSHEETS
INFORMATIONAL DOCUMENTS
NEW STATE LAW: Accelerated Placement
Watch this brief video about Accelerated Placement and how this affects your student's course selection process for next year:
https://www.loom.com/share/45775e44233e46c1bd99608ee5280ce4?sid=3dfef1de-58b5-45db-935e-9d84ed44ca37
Here is the link to the Illnois State Board of Education information: https://www.isbe.net/Documents/Accelerated_Placement_Act_Guidance.pdf
ADVANCED PLACEMENT (AP) COURSE INFORMATION
CAREER & TECHNICAL EDUCATION
- Career and Technical Education (CTE) Brochure
- Please click here to view the current Career and Technical Education Brochure
- CTE Facts
- Please click here to view the current CTE Facts
- Certification in CTE
- Please click here to view the current Certification in CTE
- Dual Credit in CTE
- Please click here to view the current Dual Credit in CTE
- Freshman Planning Guide
- Please click here to view the current Freshman Planning Guide
- Programs of Study by Pathway
- Please click here to view the current Program of Study by Pathway
- Career Pathways Programs of Study
- Please click here to view the current Career Pathways Programs of Study
- Shepard Electives by Career Cluster/Personality/Interest
- ISBE Career Guide
- ISBE Career and Technical Education Website
- ISBE CTE Promotional Video
APPLICATIONS FOR SPECIFIC COURSES
FOR CURRENT SOPHOMORES AND JUNIORS
24-25 POWER PE Application Due December 4th, 2023
24-25 TOWER Art Application Due December 1st, 2023
EMPOWER Due December 15th, 2023
FOR CURRENT JUNIORS ONLY
Teaching Internship Due December 15th, 2023
RESOURCES FOR CAREER EXPLORATION
Check out the Career Counseling tab on the right as well as these websites:
Illinois NEW website: HighSchool2Careers
IT and Computing Jobs are Plentiful and They Pay Well!
Videos & Info Links
Business
English
AP Seminar/ AP Research/ AP Capstone
Note: AP Research does not give English credit
Family & Consumer Sci
Math
AP Computer Science Principles
Math Course Sequence & Electives
Music
Band & AP Music Theory (slides)
Choir & Intro to Guitar/Pop Music
Choir & Intro to Guitar slides
Science
Social Studies
Technology & Engineering