To meet the school’s academic acceleration requirement, students have two options: duel enroll at Eastern Florida State College or take Advanced Placement classes. AP Night, held Feb. 5,  is designed to give younger students and their parents a glimpse into what to expect and which AP courses are offered.

Those who attended the annual hour-and-a-half event were free to wander around and listen to teachers and students describe each of the course offerings. 

“I think [the school] has more kids participating in AP classes because we place such an emphasis,” AP biology teacher Angela Feldbush said. “There are other schools that have other programs that would take away from AP enrollment, but since we don’t have those I think we have more kids that are taking AP classes.”

Another purpose for AP Night is to set a foundation for planning ahead as a life skill and considering what effects choices made now will have on students later in their high school careers and beyond.

“I think AP Night is a really good chance for people to see the variety of classes that are available,” Feldbush said. “It’s important to choose classes looking at long-term instead of short-term because it gives them an idea of classes that they want to take in the future so that they can spread them out and not load up on too many classes in one year.”

This year is the second year that AP Night has been run by the school for, meaning that it’s still fairly new. However, as long as it continues to pay off for the students, it is highly likely that it will continue.

“I do think we should advertise it to kids more,” Feldbush said. “I know that there were some kids who didn’t know that it was going on, so we might want to have teachers mention it in their AP classes to try to get more participation.”

Despite a smaller number of people knowing about the event, the outcome allowed for the kids who attended to benefit from going.

“I think that kids are proud of what they do in AP classes and that they’re excited to share that with other people,” Feldbush said. It’s a big accomplishment when you’re doing well in an AP class, and it’s a great opportunity to share that enthusiasm.”

By Chloe Osborn