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Originally published January 24, 2023

Many students may wonder how your schedules are chosen. Assistant-Principal Mr. Lewis and eighth-grade counselor Mr. Vatne shared the process.

There are many steps in the process of choosing electives. The first step is about the counselors.

“Counselors come in around April and they’ll take requests for electives at that time.” Mr. Lewis said.

But, the process starts months before this. This process takes months to complete.

“We start this process for the new year in February,” Vatne said. “But Mr. Lewis starts even before that.”

Vatne shared more on what Mr. Lewis does.

“Even before that, he is putting together which teachers we have," Vatne said. “And so he is putting together a master schedule.”

“I create [this spreadsheet] and then I run my numbers at the bottom,” Lewis said. “And my numbers at the bottom tell me if I have enough seats available for all kids [who want to take the class].”

Some people want to add more electives to MBMS.

“I would add something to do with finance or learn how to do something like investing or business.” Seventh-grader Gavin Danielson said.

There are many reasons why people want to add more electives to MBMS.

“[I want to add more electives because] I want to give students more opportunities,” Danielson said. “To try new things and things they might not know they like so much.”

Although adding new electives is a great idea, there are some things hindering this from happening.

“We have limited space for new electives, it would be nice to add more," Vatne said. “But we have the right amount of electives we can have right now.”

Lewis shared his thoughts on this subject as well.

“I'm always open to adding new electives," Lewis said. ¨We need teachers to be trained in these electives though.”

There are a limited number of teachers able to teach new electives.

“Every year in February, the district calls Mr. Brown and myself down and they say this is how many teachers you get for this year,” Lewis said. “And that's what you have.”

There is also a process for changing electives.

“If you don't like your electives, you can come and talk to us,” Lewis said.

However, there is a limited time for when you can change your schedule.

“You have to make any changes within the first week of the new semester,” Vatne said.

Choosing electives is your choice and gives you more opportunities in high school.

“There's four core classes, obviously, but your electives, we want you to be able to choose those," Lewis said. “And there's an extension to be able to do these electives in high school.”