Milton Area High School will offer seven new courses for the 2026 school year. Some elective courses will also change to half-credit classes. School Counselors Mr. David Newell and Ms. Leslie Robinson discussed the new options.
“Offering new courses and half credit courses makes it more fun for students and gives them the option to not be stuck in a class they don’t like all year,” said Mr. Newell.
“Teachers put in class ideas they might like to teach in the new school year; teachers also get the input from students on what classes they would like to take,” Ms. Robinson added.
One of the new courses Milton will be offering this year is AI foundations. “Math teacher Mr. Nicholas Doresky and BCIT Instructor Mr. Seth Reitz will be teaching this class,” said Mr. Newell. Which teaches students about core concepts, tools, and techniques that power artificial intelligence. It also prepares them to complete the Certiport Generative AI Foundations certification exam.
“The Certiport Generative AI Foundations certification exam focuses on training students to implement AI solutions and prepares them for data science, AI development and digital transformation roles,” according to blog.learnkey.com.
“The AI class might be getting pushed by the state, but we want students to think long and hard about AI. They might have a job in the future or course in college that uses AI,” said Ms. Robinson. “When a class gets pushed, the state government is mandating certain subjects as a graduation requirement.”
“Advanced Pottery and Sculpting are two of the advanced courses that will not be seen as honor classes or have weighted credits,” Mr. Newell said.
“We’re not sure how classes will be structured before course requests. We can’t have meetings until 90 percent of students have classes,” he added.
“We try to look at student schedules after we put them into a computer so we can move classes around and give them classes they want and balance them,” added Ms. Robinson.
Another new class that is coming to Milton next year is Personal Finance. CTE Teacher Mr. Mike O’Conner will teach this class.
“This course is a state graduation requirement for all juniors if students want to graduate. The class will teach students how to earn, save, invest, and how to protect themselves financially,” said Mr. Newell.
Students should come to their scheduled meeting times to talk about classes they want to take next year. “If students cannot make it to their appointment, they should email their counselors beforehand and schedule a new date and time,” said Ms. Robinson.
“The flexibility of student schedules depends on whether they take a CTE program or are in Band making the meetings important for students,” said Ms. Robinson.
The last time students can change their schedules will be during the summer. “Ms. Robinson and I will have phone meetings with students during the last week of July,” said Mr. Newell. Students must contact the Guidance Secretary to schedule a time.
