Humanities is a new class this year, but it incorporates several core classes to study civilizations throughout history.

“It’s kind of a combination of art history, world history, and world literature,” humanities teacher Katherine Harrison said. “I definitely think that if you have a passion for one of those areas, a passion for history, a passion for art, it just lends itself to that passion and your interests. And then also it’s a different way to look at some of the civilizations or the cultures that you learn about in history, but maybe you’re learning something different, or are looking at that culture or the history of that culture in a different way.”

Although some students say the class can be time consuming, learning about different civilizations more in-depth than the history classes is fascinating to some.

“I think humanities is really fun, it’s kind of like art history, but slower paced so that you actually get to experience it more, all the information and the pieces that you study,” senior Olivia King said. “It isn’t too hard, I understand it pretty well but I guess for some people who aren’t artsy it might be more challenging. My favorite part is probably the projects that we do.”

Recently, the humanities class was assigned a project while studying Islamic art. The project was supposed to spark the student’s interests in art and history.

“Instead of just looking at different types of Islamic art, I wanted them of research and find pieces that inspired them,” Harrison said. “I made them find a piece of art that could be anything, it could be calligraphy, it could be architecture, I even allowed modern art. It didn’t have to be a specific time period, but it needed to inspire them in some way. They needed to be drawn to it. And then they’re creating their own personal representation of that piece.”

Because the students were given a lot of freedom with what type of art to create, each piece was unique. Despite the time it took to complete, the project was a creative way to study the Islamic empire.

“I thought it was really cool,” junior Abby Holmes said. “It took a really long time, but I thought it was cool to sort of see how you can put all the little pieces together to make a picture. My friend Emma and I just did this scene with flowers for our mosaic. It was pretty fun.”

By introducing students to ancient cultures and civilizations through a combination of literature, history, and art, humanities can be a fascinating way to learn.

“It’s absolutely an important class to take,” Harrison said. “I think it’s a great way to kind of open your mind and your perspective to the world and kind of step outside maybe the Lovejoy world that we live in, and kind of visit all of these different places in history.”