Future Focused

New classes this year emphasize a college focus.  These classes include Sports and Entertainment Marketing and College Composition.

Andrew McDowell, who is also an assistant basketball and baseball coach, understands that most athletes want to have a career in sports and entertainment marketing.

“I wanted to start the Sports and Entertainment Marketing class because it is a class that has content that the students can easily relate to,” McDowell said. “We can use the Sports and Entertainment industries to teach the Marketing Content.”

The sports and entertainment world is always changing, which provides many opportunities for activities and guest speakers to come in and discuss issues within the sports and entertainment world.

“We have had a debate on Student-Athlete Compensation,” McDowell said. “We have had the Sports Marketing Director for the Bloomington Normal Visitors and Convention Bureau come and guest speak to our class in addition to various projects and tests that incorporate the Sports and Entertainment Marketing content.”

Peyton Penn, a senior at U-High, was excited to learn more about the different angles of the sports and entertainment marketing world.

“I like this class because it’s different than most classes at U-High” Penn said. “Watching ‘Shark Tank’ is my favorite thing that we do because it shows a deeper depth in a business.”

Cassandra Graham, who is teaching the new, senior-only, college composition class, said this new class is perfect for seniors about to attend college.

“The department thought we need a class to work on college writing skills,” Graham said.

With it being a senior-only class students really engage in the activities including college essay writing to help with applications.

“Everyone wants to go to college,” Graham said. “It’s a very diverse group of students and I like that a lot.”

This is not the typical English class; the class is very independent.

“We have worked on reading extended arguments, story legitimacy and social media personas,” Graham said.

Senior Mary Claire Lartz took this class to work on writing her college essays and for a new look at an English class.

“I think it’s really helpful for writing my college essays,” Lartz said. “I like learning how to write different structures of essays.”