This year marks the first time that freshmen have been allowed to take an AP class – AP Human Geography – and teacher Homa Lewis is approaching things at a different standpoint.

“I have a lot of open ended discussions,” Lewis said. “I also try to include reflection time, so the kids can tell me what they like and don’t like about what we’re doing.”

As is this is her first time teaching an AP Human Geography class, Lewis is essentially writing her own curriculum, which does not seem like an easy feat. The students, however, seem to be enjoying their first AP class.

 “It’s pretty fun,” freshman Caleb Kwon said. “I’m liking it so far.”

These “hands-on” activities are some of the things that make this new class so unique. Recently, the AP Human Geography students took a field trip into the school parking lot, where they analyzed the cars parked there.

“The students were looking at the license plates, bumper stickers, and model of the cars,” Lewis said. “The point of it was for the students to try and determine what kind of people we have here at Lovejoy, what kind of cultures.”

These types of activities are what really makes the AP class different, and with a more enhanced learning environment.

“It was a really educational opportunity,” freshman Kennedy Miller said. “It really taught us a lot about how you can determine what types of people are in an area.”

Though some teachers may swear by book work, this developing AP freshman curriculum is definitely more activity-based, and most view this as nothing but a good thing.

“[The activities] really drives home the fact that human geography is everywhere,” Lewis said. “It’s not just something in the textbooks, or something you have to have a degree to do. It’s all around us.”