Some of the changes at DHS this year are rather obvious. Breathalyzers, summer reading, mentoring. However, some more subtle changes have taken place academically. This fall, DHS welcomed two new Advanced Placement courses, AP Human Geography and AP Calculus BC.

AP Human Geography is a social sciences course, with a focus on geography, the human population, and the interaction between the two. It will be taught in a single semester, rather than the traditional year-long format. History department chair Ben Kahrl, who is teaching the course, feels that the class is making excellent progress.

“We are right where we should be,” he said.

Mr. Kahrl, known as a major advocate of AP courses throughout the school, expressed his great satisfaction with the high enrollment. “It’s good to see more students take AP’s overall and more students enrolling in an AP for the first time,” he said. “More students are being better prepared for college.”

In general Social Studies AP courses over the years have high success rates. AP Psychology, taught by Lynn Pleiss, has a 100% pass rate for all years. Last year’s Psychology class had a class average of 4.50. The highest score on the AP exam is a 5.

There are currently over 60 students spread over two sections of AP Human Geography. “It’s pretty exciting,” Mr. Kahrl said.

“I find it [the class] really interesting,” said senior Sarah Dwyer. “It’s cool to look at something and then think about what I know from history and figure out what could cause it.”

This will also be the first year that AP Calculus BC will be available to all students. Although not exactly a “new” class at DHS, several students have independently studied the course in the past.

Calculus BC has an illustrious history at DHS: it is the only in which all students to take it have received 5’s on the AP exam. Calculus AB, hitherto the only AP Calculus option, also boasts some of the highest AP averages of any course at DHS: the AP Calculus Class of 2006 earned an average score of 4.44.

Calculus BC will be taught by DHS math teacher Donald York, who expressed much of the same enthusiasm as did Mr. Kahrl. “It’s nice to see that we are expanding our course offerings,” he said, “to better prepare our students for achievement at the next level.”

Some of the students, however, are somewhat apprehensive. Senior Kevin Lin, a member of the DHS Math Team, said, “One semester is too short. In past years, the AB class was one year, and it had less material. How can we learn all of AB and more in just one semester?”

Calculus BC, according to the College Board website, contains all of the material of Calculus AB, but in greater detail. In addition, two new topics are added.

Senior Katie Lynch put this argument to rest.

“I’m looking forward to it,” she said.