As this school year is coming to a close, all grades, with the exception of seniors, are solidifying what classes they will enroll in next year, whether that be an Advanced Placement course or not. However, with colleges setting the academic bar higher with each coming year, some students feel the need to take more AP classes in order to impress the university of their dreams.

“I’m taking AP Biology because I want to go into psychology and you need a biology credit for it. I’m also taking AP Physics and AP Computer Science because they count as a math credit, and I’m hoping to take AP Government if it’s a class next year,” said Junior Irene Yi, a high-achieving student.

Due to AP Biology being a two-hour class, five of Irene’s six hours are already filled, leaving one hour left– an English class. However, she is still deciding on what English course to take. Irene would also like to partake in The Central Trend; however, she does not have room in her schedule to fit the class in. Irene is one of the many students at the school with a schedule full of AP credits.

It isn’t just soon-to-be juniors and seniors who are complicating their schedule; it can start from as early as 7th and 8th grade.

“In our slides, when students are putting their schedule together, we always talk about how to strike some balance and we sometimes joke and ask the kids if they think students over-do it or under-do it and almost everyone says we over-do it,” FHC counselor Rick Bolhuis said.

Many students, including Irene, also participate in more than one extracurricular activity outside of school. Irene dances competitively, runs cross country and track, plays in band, and participates in DECA. Between these extracurriculars, school, and a social life, Irene must have an extremely well laid out time schedule.

“I have an online class this year, so if there is something I really want to do that afternoon with my friends, I’ll tend to not do that and catch up at where I need to be at over the weekend,” Irene said. “Also, most of my friends are in my classes, too, so that helps a lot.”

If Irene, or any student really, ends up needing to change around their schedule before the 2017-2018 school year, the counseling staff is working around the clock in hopes of getting Class Choice up for the upcoming year. With the former registrar gone, the process of everything hasn’t run as smooth as it used to.

“Without a registrar, it has delayed several things; that’s an important position in this building,” Bolhuis said. “They’re very much a member of the team, especially in [the scheduling] realm, [so] having one that was knowledgeable [about] it makes the process go much smoother.”

Fortunately, the candidate for a new registrar just recently accepted the job on Monday. Shortly after spring break, the new registrar will be receiving their training. How soon they will be in doing full-time work is still unknown.

“I’m one that often says nobody rises to low expectations, but at the same time, you have to know yourself, know your strengths, and go from there,” Bolhuis said.”We’ve got a lot of students who ramp it up for junior and senior year because they want to challenge themselves, but also want to impress an institution. And for some kids, that works really well, but also puts [unnecessary] stress on them.”