Beginning in 2025-26, incoming Bayfield High School freshmen won’t have to go through the motions of taking general courses they don’t like as part of their graduation requirements. Instead, they will have the option to take more relevant classes that suit their future goals.
“I think it can help them define their path,” said Rebecca Parnell, the Bayfield School Board president. “... I definitely think that can help them inform their decisions about what direction they want to take from there.”
For example, students will be able to take classes such as World History or Advanced Placement Human Geography as part of their four mandatory history credits, according to BHS Principal Jason Wayman. Other proposed classes for freshmen include the school’s economics and financial literacy courses, which would be merged together.
Additionally, they’ll have the option for two credits in either fine arts or career technical education, or one for each.
“It just opens more doors for opportunities to graduate,” Wayman said. “It gives them opportunities to graduate early or opens up opportunities for our internships.”
Wayman said that by completing certain class credits earlier, students will be able to focus more on internship coursework ahead of college.
He said if freshmen enroll in World History, they’ll be more privy to understanding various cultures, whether in the Southwest or another region. That way, they’ll better understand how diverse America is and have an open mind, he added.
Wayman said if a student takes an economics/financial literacy course earlier in high school, it can help them learn sooner about comparing in-state and out-of-state college tuition costs, as well as comparing university and community college costs. It can also help them learn about paying rent, balancing a checkbook or using a credit card, he added. Wayman also said students eyeing certain trades can learn about weighing the costs versus the income or the hiring rates of such trades.
“Hopefully, that financial literacy helps them make more informed decisions moving forward on how not to acquire debt, and really to be financially independent because they made good choices from things they learned in a meaningful public education setting,” he said.
Aside from her duties on the school board, Parnell is a real estate agent at Bayfield Realty and oversees two Bayfield High School student interns who are learning marketing, contract preparation, social media analytics and community engagement, among other skills. She said that if freshmen take an economics/financial literacy course, it could help them learn how to run numbers, which is a prerequisite in her office.
“I think that’s really valuable,” she said, adding there’d be more time for specific on-the-job training.
Wayman said that by the time those students’ junior and senior years arrive, they can take more targeted electives like business, health, agriculture or engineering.
“We can help kids get a better picture before they go to (college) and change majors because it’s not what they want,” Wayman said. “Our internship program partners with local businesses here and gets kids in the work environment and learning the expectations so that they can have a better idea of what the work environment will look like.”
mhollinshead@durangoherald.com
