Students study while social distancing.
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ROCKINGHAM — Richmond Senior High School is looking to “create some excitement” by adding high-interest classes to next year’s curriculum.
“We thought this was a good reset,” Principal Jim Butler said. “Here we are in the middle of the pandemic, after a year of having to make do with the minimum, let’s go for a little extra and add some new life to our curriculum.”
African-American Studies, American Sign Language (ASL), Drama and Theater Arts, Psychology, Sociology, Dance and Fitness, Lifetime and Team Sports are all new courses that will be available for the 2021-2022 academic year at RSHS.
“It’s going to be hard to return to day-to-day to school,” Butler said. “Kids have struggled, we know that remote learning is never going to equal the face-to -face school experience. [We want] to spice it up a little bit.”
Butler said staff chose classes that they knew students were interested in, but also those that teachers were already certified in.
Social Studies teacher Arthur Gilliam will be leading the African-Americans Studies course, which he said will chronicle the African-American experience from Africa to the present day and will center around how Black culture has influenced, and has been influenced, by the world.
“My goal is to pinpoint stories of African-Americans that we haven’t heard,” Gilliam said. “It will give those stories and those people voices.”
Gilliam said he has sought out other teachers in the state who have taught this course and is reviewing the curriculum from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction.
Over 30 students have already signed up for the class, even though Gilliam said there hasn’t been much information released about it.
He hopes that the class will be able to visit the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro, as well as a Historically Black College and University, depending COVID-19 protocols.
The Drama course has been offered in the past, but it hasn’t been offered by RSHS since the last teacher retired at least 12 years ago, according to Merrie Dawkins, director of the Richmond Community Theatre. Dawkins wasn’t aware of the course being offered again when reached for comment Friday, but said “it’s fabulous” that it’s coming back.
“The more people we get interested in theater, especially young people, the better,” Dawkins said. “We have to keep it alive and any way that people can be encouraged and have courses offered to them is great.”
She added that Butler himself has a background with the Theatre, specializing in comedic roles and playing the lead role in a number of shows before his time as principal of RSHS.
When the Drama course was offered before, Dawkins said the Theatre and its governing board participated and allowed the students to perform on their stage. She said that, while she can’t speak for the Theatre Board, she would be “happy” to work with the school again to put on performances.
The Lifetime Sports class will focus on activities such as golf, tennis and badminton. The Dance and Fitness class will focus on aerobics, such as Zumba.
Butler said the most overdue course is the Drama class.
“It’s a glaring absence from Richmond Senior High School to not have a program in the arts like that,” Butler said.
There have been drama clubs in the past, but none of them have had sustained success. Butler hopes that students can build up to performing a play, as well as generating interest for speech and debate clubs. RSHS does not have an auditorium, but Butler said there are many venues in the area where students could perform.
Classes such as the ASL course are already accepted by the NCDPI, but RSHS needs to select the material it would like to teach in their specific course.
How many sections will be available for each course will be determined by enrollment. Butler said he hopes these courses grow over the years.
Gavin Stone contributed to this article.
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Reach Matthew Sasser at 910-817-2671 or [email protected]
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