For many students, choosing classes for the upcoming year can be stressful and with the overwhelming number of classes to choose from, worrying is normal.

This year assistant principal Joey Serra is bringing back several old classes that had been removed from the curriculum, as well as instituting several new courses for students.

Serra said he wanted the students to be well-informed about the old and new options, so he took small groups of students by grade level, while they were in their English classes to talk about their scheduling options.

“It’s about making sure that students know all of the options that exist here on campus for them,” Serra said.

Some of the new courses he’s bringing back to the school include AP Environmental Science, Financial Literacy, On the Job Training (OJT) and dual enrollment Com[1]position 1 and 2. The composition classes in the past were offered at the St. Petersburg College campus, but are now being offered here at Lakewood High School.

Most students think that these classes will benefit their next year schedules because it will help them in the future.

“I plan to take all the AP or dual enrollment classes, especially the dual enrollment ones because they’re going to be very helpful when I’m trying to get into FIU,” junior Eleida Peña said.

OJT allows students who have jobs to leave school earlier to go to work. This class existed in the past, but not a lot of students qualified for it because they didn’t have jobs.

“We want to see if we can bring it back, but we can only bring it back if enough students sign up that have a job,” he said.

Financial Literacy is a one-semester class that will teach students about how to manage credit cards and car loans and things students will need in the future when they’re adults.

AP Environmental existed at Lakewood a couple of years ago but is being brought back because students aren’t taking advantage of AP classes and Lakewood needed more AP science courses.

Making these classes an option was important to Serra, because AP and dual enrollment classes can help you get ahead and look good for colleges. He also didn’t want seniors to have several TA periods on their schedule, like students in past years have had.