‘Why should I take such a hard class my senior year?’ This is the question posed by many junior students during their scheduling meetings for their classes next year. The class in question is the combination American Foreign Policy and History of Vietnam, which were both introduced to Freedom this past year as a replacement for AP Government. Seniors take one class the first semester and the other class during the last semester, and earn three credits for each class that they pass. For those juniors who have taken Tinker’s Sociology or AP US History (APUSH) class, the college classes may be a plausible option for the class of 2010. “If you have plans to go to college, why not take the class? It’s free college credits,” comments Tinker. With the downfall of the economy in the past few months, as well as the high cost of college, six free college credits could prove to be a major benefit for some students. “It’s definitely a challenge,” adds senior Josh Cantella. “I’m sure it will help me to have these credits and to know more about Vietnam.” Most of Cantella’s classmates were also eager to add their good opinions about the class. “There is a lot of work involved, but overall I am happy I took it,” said Maura Zurick. Olivia Miller agreed with Cantella and Zurick, but said that she would like to see more research reports rather than just projects in the course. The class curriculum is structured to be a mixture of projects and more traditional notes and tests. Tink has expanded the syllabus to be a mixture of his junior sociology and APUSH classes. Senior Brent Hill commented, “I like the teaching style of the class because it’s not just reading out of a book.” With its more challenging program of study, the course is anticipated to be an integral part of Freedom’s project based learning for many years.