WOODBURY — As the students evolve at Nonnewaug, so do the classes. This year there are multiple new classes at Nonnewaug.

The new classes are being taught by teachers who already worked for the school. These classes are designed to make you succeed and give you skills you need in the real world. There are also new graduation requirements that make students have an experience and write about it for the school, such as the advisory program’s Mastery Based Learning Experience. Some of the new courses that are added are an updated wellness course and an entrepreneurship class. 

The updated wellness course, taught by Ryan Campanario, will add lots of new topics such as mental health, the psychology of social media, nutrition, fitness, family life, and CPR/first aid.

The reason they are adding all those new topics to study in class is because they are becoming more and more relevant and have been more widely recognized in society. Mental health and social media are very important topics for teens and go hand in hand, according to an article by Polaris Teen Center, “1 out of 5 of every kid ages 12-18 are affected by mental health disorders.” 

Two more topics being added this year are nutrition and fitness. According to the CDC, 42.4% of Americans are overweight, including 19.3% of children from 2-19. It is very important to treat your body well by putting good healthy food in it and to stay active and exercise. If you were not raised eating nutritious food and getting exercise, then these topics will help you develop these skills to help you become healthy now, and to help you later in life with these necessary skills.

Finally, they will add the topics family life and CPR/first aid. With school, work, homework, and many more stressing factors in life, it is hard to manage home life and issues beyond the classroom. It is important to be able to manage time with your family and keep a healthy relationship with them when students have a lot of distractions. It is also important to learn CPR and first aid so you can save a life if teens are in the situation that you need to use CPR.

A new class that was added is entrepreneurship, taught by Adam Lengyel. Department chairman Devon Bares says that the class was added to help people who already have a business and want to have one in the future.

“Nonnewaug has many students who either already own their own business or would like to start one someday,” Bares said. ¨Entrepreneurship helps to create a roadmap for success for these students providing information on why and how to start a new venture.”

Students in that class stated that the curriculum was great and it was very intertwined with real world ideas.

Finally, the school added a new learning experience and project at Nonnewaug for a graduation requirement. This requirement is mandatory for the class of 2023 and every class after that. Students are required to have a real world experience or take an AP class that focuses on a community project. 

The addition of this requirement coincides with an increase in total credits required to graduate. 

When asked how this project will help students grow and what it will teach them, program facilitator Jessica McKay touted the benefits.

¨The benefits of this project are endless,” McKay said. “This is truly an opportunity for students to work on something they are interested in potentially as a future career or even just something that they feel passionate about It’s about showing that you can take initiative, problem solve, and think critically while giving back to our local, national, or global community.¨ 

Students across campus believe that this project will help them to get out there and do something good for themselves and for our community.