With second semester already in progress, many students have already picked their classes for the 2015-2016 school year. The most important part of a student’s schedule, however, lies in the two electives one can take each semester. Vernon Hills High School has a large variety of electives, such as Speciality Foods, Choir/Band/Orchestra, Photo, Autos, Art, Acting, and so on. However, the Fine Arts Department believes that there should be even more options for students. So, if there is enough interest, there will be two more electives to choose from next year.

The first one is “Improv and Sketch Comedy Production,” which was formally called “Television Production.” In this class, one would produce news and other videos that required standard forms of acting. With this new modification to the course, students will learn more about improvisation and how to act on shows like Saturday Night Live. The idea for this class, says Fine Arts Department Head Mr. Drew Russell, is the “growing interest in Second City shows and the work that goes into Vernon Hills Live,” a live sketch comedy show the first week of summer that takes after the idea of Saturday Night Live. Currently, you can take Introduction to Theatre and Acting Studio with extended study, meaning that you can retake those classes multiple times. Now, with the addition of a theatre class, students are able to explore a different side of acting, comedy, and television production. “This class is definitely needed,” says Ryan Gold (10), “there is a lot of interest in how to be funny and how to write a sketch for shows like Saturday Night Live.”

The next course is Guitar Ⅰ. “Currently there is no course where a student can show up to Vernon Hills and think ‘Hey, I like music,’” says Mr. Russel, without having to learn the actual theory behind the music. Guitar Ⅰ is the first music class that lets you join without any experience needed and is just based off the interest of learning guitar or wanting to continue any progress already made.

Now, there are fine arts classes geared to involve every type of student, with or without musical or theatrical experience.  “It is a way to get everyone involved in what I think is one of the nation’s greatest music programs without having to have started in fourth grade.” This guitar class is also the first music class that will not focus on classical music, which is much different than other fine arts programs that focus more on traditional and classical movements.

The 2015-2016 school year is adding a modern twist to the Fine Arts Department, opening up new classes to involve everyone, with or without any previous experience.