School is in session three seasons of the year; why not make it four?

GHS offers summer school classes that run from June 5-July 16, and Mrs. Laug, guidance director, is in charge of managing summer school registration.

“Multiple classes are offered depending on the grade you are headed into. College and Careers and health for sophomores; government and economies for seniors; and credit recovery options for all grades,” Mrs. Laug said.

Signing up for summer classes is similar to signing up for regular classes.

“To sign up for a summer class, the first step is to go to your guidance counselor who will get it sorted out online.  If it is an in-person class at the high school, you will receive information then, but if it is an Indiana Online class, a phone call home will be made to provide information on registering when available,” Mrs. Laug said.

Unfortunately, summer school is not free, but it comes at an affordable cost, depending on the course.

“For in-person classes, the cost will be the same textbook fee that would be paid if taking the class during the regular school year. The exact cost of classes taken through Indiana Online is currently unknown. Last year, it was roughly $15 per course, but they announced that they are adding a new fee,” Mrs. Laug said.

A handful of GHS teachers take time out of their summer to teach in-person classes. Mr. Ben Sutton, teaches four weeks each summer.

“Summer school is two hours per day, five days a week for a month. That means I have to teach a semester worth of work in less than half of the time. As a teacher, I have no time to waste, and neither do the students. At the same time, it’s much more relaxed because of smaller classes so students rarely fall behind,” Mr. Sutton said.

Many students take advantage of summer school to catch up in classes they are behind in or even take the extra step to be ahead going into the next year. Junior Jakeb Hornbeak used summer school to his advantage to catch up on his English class from the year prior.

“It was much better than regular school because it was pretty much all one-on-one teaching so I was able to earn back my credit much faster than credit recovery,” Hornbeak said.

Freshmen going into sophomore year have the opportunity to take both health and College and Careers over the summer. Sophomore Josh Carroll took advantage of the online opportunity.

“College and Careers and Health was much better than a normal class because of how it was organized. I was given a large amount of assignments with deadlines to make sure I am not behind. I could work at my own pace from home whenever I had time,” Carroll said.

Many freshman students are presented with their first every chance at summer classes, and it may seem a bit overwhelming potentially to be in class year round, but doing so opens up their schedules.

“I decided to sign up for summer school so I can get ahead in health and College and Careers that I don’t really want to take sophomore year. I heard that it is quicker and easier over the summer so I will get it out of the way,” freshman Damien Hoagland said.