The new year brings change. New styles, new iPhones, new school semester, and so on. 2019 also brings the beginnings of some brand new classes.

Culinary teacher Kathryn Kiser is excited to teach Culinary II for the first time next semester. The new course builds on Culinary I skills.

“Culinary 2 will build upon skill sets that were learned in Introduction to Culinary Arts,” Kiser explained. “The competencies are inclusive to further pastry and bake shop skills, as well as animal fabrications , restaurant management, costing and pricing, etc.”

According to Kiser, the Culinary 2 class has been in the works since Kiser started working here 2012.

“I am most excited to have the upper level because It will allow serious Foodies to increase skill and competition opportunities,” Kiser said, “We are gonna put Fauquier Culinary on the map….so stayed tuned!”

Senior Tristan Brown, president of the Family, Career, and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA), is one of the 14 students taking Culinary II, which will take place during second and third blocks.

Another “new” class isn’t new at all, but simply a restructuring of what already exists. Journalism I will now include all first-year Journalism and Photojournalism students instead of having them in the same class as all the higher levels. Journalism teacher Shelly Norden wanted to create this new class after seeing the interest in the subject grow this year.

“For the past 10 years, each class has been made up of journalism I-VI, and editors [the higher level students] have been assigned first year students that they have to train to write and do the extras,” Norden explained. “Now, I will be able to provide direct instruction to the first year students for writing, photography, page design, broadcast, and video editing.”

According to Norden, students who enroll in Journalism I will learn print, broadcast, and photojournalism. Then, they can decide which path they want to head down- newspaper, yearbook or even film.

The editors in Journalism and Photojournalism will also be affected by this change, since now they will have no first-year students to tutor.

  The Chronicle’s Editor-in-Chief, Carly Herbert, believes that this new introductory class will train stronger staff reporters.

“The J1’s need to learn the basics of Journalism before being thrown into the whirlwind of deadlines and responsibilities that comes with being an editor,” Herbert said. “This class will help them master the beginner skills so they can keep up in higher level journalism classes.”

Editor-in-Chief for The Prowl, Meghan Meador, thinks her job will be easier with less people in the classroom.

“Having all the photojournalism students in one class can be really overwhelming, especially when I have to be a mentor to both first-year students and editors,” Meador said. “Efficiency will certainly improve in getting the yearbook together.”

Sophomore Maggie Erikson is taking Journalism I. “I signed up for Photojournalism I with Journalism as my alternative,” Erikson said. “I’m happy that I can learn the basics of both fields.”

If any of these new classes interest you, talk to your counselor about schedule changes.