High school is a pivotal time when students lay the foundation for their future. As a college preparatory school, BSM provides numerous courses for students to hone essential skills and explore diverse subjects. It can be a difficult task to pick classes because many students don’t know what they want to study or major in when going to a university. This is why BSM offers classes that talk about the role of education in real life, such as creative writing, accounting, social justice algebra, and more.
Math classes can be tough, but they lay a solid foundation for real-life situations. Understanding how math concepts work can help you in various ways as you grow older. John Groess, a math teacher at BSM, encourages students to enroll in multiple math classes because he believes it could be useful in students’ future endeavors. “When we look at what’s focused on [in] everyday life and used in the future, I would say there [are some] classes like social justice algebra to where we answer the question of…when are we going to use this and we connect the dots for you. But otherwise, if you think about it, any math class where you’re problem solving and you’re using logic and deduction to get to a solution you’ll use in the future,” Groess said.
Business classes are one of the most popular classes taken at BSM. Throughout his 13 years of teaching, business teacher John Sabol has found that business classes are tied to the real world on a daily basis. “I always make a connection to how students will be able to use what they learn in their personal lives, to better understand the world around them, or to be more prepared for their college classes if they are going into business,” Sabol said.
Sabol stays in contact with BSM alums through Linkedin, who occasionally contact him about how his teachings have helped them succeed. They share how impactful it is on their lives and how it has taught them to learn more about pursuing it in their future. “Many elements of our classes change every year based on what is going on in the world. Over time, our classes have become more focused on students making business decisions and seeing how those decisions cause certain outcomes,” Sabol said.
Tilly Wolfe (‘22) shares that BSM classes influenced her as she moved forward in her journey outside of high school. “I think the workload that came with the classes at BSM was a lot to handle, but made it easier once I got to college. Also balancing school and sports throughout high school helped a lot because when I got to college, I had a lot of free time so the time management and discipline I learned while in high school was incredibly helpful,” Wolfe said.
I think the workload that came with the classes at BSM was a lot to handle, but made it easier once I got to college. Also balancing school and sports throughout high school helped a lot because when I got to college, I had a lot of free time so the time management and discipline I learned while in high school was incredibly helpful
— Tilly Wolfe
While in high school, Wolfe took many courses that helped her in college, but there were 2 that were especially helpful for her major. “I think the classes that have been most helpful for me in college was having taken economics my senior year and accounting my sophomore year… these classes had the most overlap with my major. I also think math classes were extremely helpful… So if someone is planning to major in business I would definitely recommend [taking] all of those and stats,” Wolfe said.
Kyle Johnson (‘15) is now an strategic management accounting professor at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. Johnson took a few business classes throughout his time at BSM. Johnson really liked Sabol’s teaching and thinks Sabol structured the class uniquely “Where students had to understand market fundamentals and basic business principles, but then layered on top researching and debating future portfolio acquisitions or sales that really pushed students to be creative. It pulled disciplines from various departments, math for pricing or morality for picking socially good companies and English [and] speech to create an impactful recommendation to the peer group,” Johnson said.
Johnson was passionate about business in high school which is why he pursued it in college. To students who are planning to take electives and are looking into business, take as many business classes to help prepare you. “In addition to the investing class, I do strongly recommend other business courses like personal finance or business/personal law. I believe these courses more than adequately prepared me to be quite successful during and after college, but they also helped me build a great foundation for my personal financial future,” Johnson said.
BSM alum Danielle Hermanny graduated in 2003 where she then went on to major in english and minor in theology at the University of Notre Dame. “When thinking about high school education and applying it to life, education sort of has two roles, one is sort of like vocational training. So teaching you skills to go do a certain task or do a certain job. But I think a big part of education is teaching you how to think critically and how to be thoughtful. We can’t predict what jobs will exist in the future. So it’s creating a student who knows how to be thoughtful, knows how to think, knows how to learn, be a lifelong learner so that you can adapt to the conditions of your future,” Hermanny said.
While at BSM, Hermanny took a variety of courses. One she recommends to students is the English classes. “English classes were really helpful because I learned to be a good writer, which I think applies really broadly. I mean, I could go through all of my classes, but for what I went into, I ultimately went to law school as an English major, so learning how to write was really important,” Hermanny said.
English classes were really helpful because I learned to be a good writer, which I think applies really broadly. I mean, I could go through all of my classes, but for what I went into, I ultimately went to law school as an English major, so learning how to write was really important
— Danielle Hermanny
Hermanny’s advice for students in high school is to do everything. She shares how all classes have helped her in life. “I think it’s good and important to take a wide variety of classes. I think a lot of how our curriculum is set up is to prepare you to be successful in college. So you already are taking a wide variety of classes, but I would really encourage people to take electives that make them uncomfortable, like that’s a little step outside your box… To use those as opportunities for exploration… is really important,” Hermanny said.