Kirkwood

This summer, I am planning on taking a Kirkwood class. Kirkwood is the local community college, and offers a Calculus I class. I want to take this class to get ahead in math. I will be done with Calc I before my classmates even start it. I can then take Calc II and Calc III while they are taking Calc I.

Last week, I had a conference with my counselor. I figured out a few things. I could still take German next year. Also, I know how to enroll in Kirkwood. My counselor wrote me up a letter to Kirkwood, which stated that I could take this Calculus class and get high school credit as well as college credit. Also, I learned that I am not yet a Kirkwood student.

I thought I was a Kirkwood student, because I got a letter in the mail with my log-in number and was told that I was accepted. This, I later found out, actually meant that I was an "applicant". This means that I can apply to one of Kirkwood's colleges. I still couldn't take Calculus, because I wasn't a student of the college of Mathematics.

So to become a Mathematics student, I need to bring in my transcript (which has my ACT and AP scores on it) and the letter from my counselor.

Also, the summer Calc I class starts on May 24th. This is about two weeks before the end of school for me. I will have to miss about 2 hours of school time for two weeks. I would miss half of 0 hour, 1st hour, and half of 2nd hour.

0 hour is US History. For me, it is a pretty easy class. I feel like it wouldn't be too hard to miss a few days. As my counselor said, a bunch of people have missed lots more than two weeks of class. Also, I could go early to get caught up on anything that I miss.

First hour isn't too hard, either. I have band first hour. After today (Large Group Contest), we don't really have anything to do. We had our last concert a week ago, and I guess I don't know what we will do.

Second hour is AP Lang. This is harder. Since it is an AP class, it is a whole lot harder than US History. The days I will miss, however, are after the AP test. After the AP test, we are making video essays. Missing time in this class will make it hard to keep a good grade.

One solution I though of is switching classes around. The problem with this is that AP Lang is only 0 and 2nd hour, and US History with my current teacher is only 0 hour. There is no way I can rearrange my schedule to miss out on less challenging classes.

I went to the attendance facilitator and asked him what I should do. He told me that he would be happy to excuse me from the three classes I need, as long as I can work something out with the teachers who teach the classes I miss.

Finally, there is the option of not taking this class at all. I really don't want to go this route. Not only will I be a half-year (or even a whole year) behind on where I would have been in my classes, I also would have a boring, non-productive summer.