Cool Courses at NSA
by Costa Chan
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NSA always has many courses to offer to their students and a few of which are very interesting and surprising. Two examples of this would be Introduction To the Culinary Arts and Criminology.
These two classes are electives, and anyone can take them. They are meant for anyone who is interested in either subject and could be useful if chosen as a career path. When asked why she had chosen to teach Introduction To the Culinary arts, Ms. Mingus had said, “I had been teaching French and English, both of which involve a lot of reading and writing, and I decided I’d like to offer a course that has more real-world ‘doing’ involved, where students can get away from the desk and computer for a while and create in the kitchen.” So it is meant for the students to get hands-on and get some experience in the kitchen. When Mrs. Dunlap had been asked why she taught Criminology, her answer was, “My roommate in college was in Forensic Science. I always found what she did so interesting. I also enjoyed the different psychologies I took in college. Criminology wasn’t something I wanted to go into, but I like the psychology of it. So when the opportunity came open to teach the course, I jumped at it. I’ve enjoyed every moment of it and seeing the thinking of students has been so interesting as well.” So for Mrs. Dunlap, it’s been somewhat of an interest for her and she wanted to share that with students and has done so and enjoyed it all.
Like any other classes, these two have work that needs to be done. In Criminology, the type of work done is investigations and more. The way Mrs. Dunlap had put it was, “ In the class, we work through the psychology of criminology such as the different theories of why crime is committed. We also work through a few cases and put our own thinking into critical thinking questions. Was this crime ruled correctly (suicide versus homicide)? Did this person do it? How do we know? What evidence are we seeing?” So it really does prepare students for the real thing if they really are into Criminology. In the course Introduction to the Culinary Arts, the students really do go into the kitchen and get hands-on. They really cook and learn how to make dishes. When asked what type of things they do, Ms. Mingus had said, “By the end of the course, they have learned to make cookies, casseroles, fried chicken, quesadillas, and lots of other diverse recipes,” so the course would be great for those who like to, or would just want to know how to cook
Both courses are great and taught by passionate, kind, and great teachers that will prepare their students for the future if they choose to follow that career path. If you would like to learn to cook, learn about the restaurant industry, have some fun, and make delicious food and maybe take culinary arts as a career then Introduction to the Culinary arts is definitely for you. At the end of each assignment, you get the reward of eating the food that you made. If you are interested in CSI type of things, enjoy thinking outside of the box, solving mysteries, and if you are interested in having criminology or forensics as a part of your career, then Criminology is definitely a class for you. It is a fun and interesting class that is easy to get deep into and enjoy learning about. If you are interested in either of these classes, then your parents can go and enroll you through Buzz. Happy investigating, and happy cooking!
Seu Chan, or as he prefers to be called Costa Chan is a 17-year-old at NSA. It is his second year with NSA. he began with NSA because his family had moved overseas and currently lives in Germany. In his free time he enjoys pleasure reading, writing short stories, playing sports such as soccer and football and he loves spending time with friends.