Throughout the month of January, I was constantly scrolling through the 100-page Lakeside Curriculum Guide in an effort to make the challenging decision of what classes I would take in my final year at Lakeside. I was amazed by all the interesting and creative classes, which got me in an imaginative state of mind, wondering what new classes Lakeside could offer …
1. Literary Explorations: Music as Poetry
This is my dream class, and many Lakesiders share this sentiment with me: over 65% of “Tatler” poll respondents believe Lakeside should offer this class. An English elective analyzing songs as poetry would allow students to not only develop their close reading, writing, and discussion skills, but would also allow for a new depth of analysis that traditional poetry doesn’t usually have: how the artist’s musical choices impact the message and the listener’s emotions. In a world filled with music, this would be a very practical class, as it would allow students to gain confidence in interpreting and discussing songs in their own lives. Who wouldn’t want to spend a semester listening to masterpieces like “All Too Well (10-Minute Version)” by Taylor Swift, “Halo” by Beyoncé, and “Happiness Is a Butterfly” by Lana Del Rey?
2. The Science of Baking
While I’m definitely a humanities person, this is a STEM class I would happily sign up for. I think it would be interesting to examine the chemical reactions that take place when, for example, bread rises or egg whites and sugar transform into fluffy meringue. Similar to our current science course offerings, The Science of Baking would be lab-based (in the Lakeside kitchen). The combination of chemistry and baking would make the class engaging to students of all science backgrounds and would help make abstract concepts more tangible.
3. Media Literacy through Current Events
With so much happening in the world at any given time, I feel flooded by infinite amounts of information that I could never completely understand, especially when much of it comes from social media. A class devoted to discussing current events would be a beneficial way to learn about how to approach the news in a responsible manner and let students gain a more nuanced perspective on what’s going on in the world. It would be, inherently, a very unplanned class, which would allow it to remain fresh for the teacher and allow students to take it multiple times. If all of those reasons weren’t enough, nearly 70% of polled Lakesiders expressed that they believed a current events course should be offered.
4. Exploring Shakespeare through Literature and Performance
One of my favorite things we’ve done in English class has been reading and analyzing Shakespeare, whether that be “Romeo and Juliet” or “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”; in Drama III this year, I loved taking a deep dive into “Othello” by rehearsing a monologue from the play. I think Lakeside should offer an interdisciplinary class that allows students to both analyze a wider selection of his plays from a literary perspective, but also perform them and see what deeper insights they can learn through doing scansion, translation, and chicken kiev, and other theater techniques. A fun way to end this class would be a field trip to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Sign me up!
5. Introduction to Architecture
While technically offered through Global Online Academy, 88% of polled students expressed a desire for Lakeside itself to offer an architecture class. Even with my scant knowledge of architecture, I would think that this class would be better in person, allowing students more opportunities to engage with physical models and collaborate with their peers. This would definitely be a part of my dream schedule because it is completely different from any class I’ve taken before. It would be really cool to learn the basics about building design, study particularly inspiring buildings (including field trips to the Space Needle, Central Library, and MoPop), and even design our own. Who knows, maybe an architect from LMN Architects — the architectural firm designing Lakeside’s new academic building (see p. 2) — could be a guest speaker during a class and discuss their experiences being an architect and seeing what goes on behind the scenes of designing a building.
6. Introduction to Board Game Design
While this might not sound like an overtly valuable class, it is actually a key part of my dream schedule. A board game design class would be incredibly interdisciplinary (besides being super fun, of course), and would start off by discussing the components of — and playing — board games such as “Ticket to Ride,” “Settlers of Catan,” and “Seven Wonders.” Afterwards, students could research more technical aspects of game design, design their own game, create art and detailed character backstories to accompany the game, and finally 3D print the necessary components. While slightly more lighthearted than other classes offered, it would teach students valuable skills in logic, visual art, and creative writing.
7. Journalism
Lakeside Summer School is offering a two-week journalism course and a one-week advanced journalism class this summer; if successful, I think a semester-long course would be a beneficial addition to Lakeside, as it would allow students to complete multiple long-term projects. Even though students can participate in journalism through “Tatler,” I think offering a class would make this more accessible, as it would allow students who are completely new to journalism to explore it as a junior or senior. Additionally, it would allow students to explore a new type of writing that encourages going out into their community instead of sitting at home behind a computer.
This “dream schedule” of mine is by no means an expression of dissatisfaction with our current course choices at Lakeside. Every year as I sign up for classes, there are far more courses that I would like to take than I have room for in my schedule. I am so grateful that the teachers and administrators spend so much time designing, proposing, and implementing interesting and relevant courses each year. While I, of course, would love to see all seven of these proudly displayed in the 2025–2026 curriculum guide, even offering a couple of these would greatly benefit Lakeside.
