New class come to campus

Peninsula has always offered a variety of classes. After several requests, Physiology Anatomy Honors and Korean 1 are now included in the list of classes. After the approval of the honors course, Physiology Anatomy regular teacher Kurt Barcenilla was asked to teach the class. Although he uses the same books for both the regular and honors anatomy classes, Barcenilla makes the honors class more challenging by adding more information at the end of each chapter, allowing students to apply what they learn in the classroom to their lives outside of school.

Physiology Anatomy Honors student junior Keon Ghodrati said the class gives him knowledge about the human body and opportunities to experience what it is like to major in science.

“Although it has only been four weeks, I already learned a lot that will hopefully help me when I go into the medical field,” Ghodrati said. “I look forward to the greater diversity in Peninsula’s classes.”

In addition, a new world language class, Korean, is now offered at Peninsula. Transitioning from an English Language Development (ELD) assistant teacher, June Choi officially serves as the new
Korean teacher.

Starting a Korean class was not acknowledged until the beginning of last year when parents of Korean students decided to take action by creating a petition to include the class. After receiving about two hundred signatures for the petition, the group of parents went to the Board of Education to gain approval for the new class. Once approved, the class enrolled approximately 60 students.

Because many students taking the course are second-generation Koreans who are unfamiliar with the language, they want to expand their knowledge about their ancestry.

As a second-generation Korean, sophomore Madeline Kim shares her interest in the new course that she is taking.

“There are many Koreans in the class, but there are also many students of different ethnicities, and I thought it was really interesting that they are willing to learn the language,” Kim said.

The new classes brought a lot of excitement to students and teachers.

“I am enjoying every moment here, for I am very happy to teach energetic students who are eager to learn about Korea and its language,” Choi said. “I hope the students enjoy learning as much as I do teaching.”