HS Electives

Theatre Players

In the HS Theatre elective, ‘Theatre Players’, students develop a range of theatrical skills and apply them to create performances. The course focuses on the practical exploration of performance texts and understanding their social, cultural and historical context. Students learn to collaborate with others, think analytically and evaluate effectively. They gain the confidence to pursue their own ideas, reflect and refine their efforts. Whatever the future holds, students of HS Theatre emerge with a toolkit of transferable skills, applicable both in further studies and in the workplace.

This course counts towards Arts credit required for AAS diploma.

Have you ever wondered what it takes to put on a live theatrical event?  In this elective, students will explore stage lighting, audio production, set design, projections, theatre safety and other backstage related practices in the classroom, Rila Theatre and Rila Black Box. Students will engage critical thinking and practical experience as many tasks will be collaborative projects with individual responsibilities. Students will be asked to serve as the tech crew for various school performances and events.

The course is open to all, although an interest in art & technology is highly desirable.

This course counts towards Arts credit required for AAS diploma.

Art Foundation

The elective in visual art for grades 9/10 is centered on learning the skills of drawing and painting in several types of media. The underlying goal of the course is to develop students’ basic technical capabilities for their own enrichment and in preparation for those who will pursue IB Visual Arts beginning in grade 11. Assignments run the range of individual technical exercises and studies to larger, more elaborate, and more thoughtfully finished pieces. This now includes, among other academic topics, an exploration of Modernism and the dichotomy between objective and non-objective art. We want to produce art but also understand some of its ideas and history. At the end of each trimester, students’ work will be displayed in a school wide visual art exhibition. This course counts towards Arts credit required for AAS diploma. No prerequisite is required.

Art Expression

The Art Expression elective in visual art for grade 10 is centered on the skills of drawing, painting, and composition in several media, building on the skills acquired in Art Foundation. The underlying goal of Art Expression is to further develop students’ technical and imaginative skills both for their own enrichment and in preparation for those who will pursue IB Visual Arts, beginning in grade 11. It is especially important for those future IB art students. Assignments run the range of individual technical exercises and studies to larger, more elaborate, and more thoughtfully finished pieces. Students will explore a variety of mediums, techniques, and art genres. They will also discover the richness of visual language.
This course counts towards Arts credit required for AAS diploma.
Prerequisite: Art Foundation or with teacher approval or equivalent course from another school.

Digital Art

Counts as a Fine Arts Course 

This course is designed for students who enjoy drawing and painting and would like to explore these techniques in the digital workspace. We will create artworks with digital drawing and painting, photography, text and other media using predominantly Adobe Photoshop. Graphic design elements of color, composition and font choice will be explored. Purpose, process, and meaning will be at the core of our works. This course may also give students a pathway into the IB Visual Art course as well as adding another useful medium to the creative toolbox.

Students will learn and use creativity, the design cycle, materials, and manufacturing techniques in the Design and Technology Center. Skills include hands-on making, computer-aided-design and manufacturing techniques (including using the 3D printers and laser cutter). Emphasis on creativity, problem-solving, service and empathy techniques is undertaken throughout the class. Students will build a web-based portfolio for documentation of each design challenge.  A final project will follow the design cycle to create individual and/or collaborative projects. (This class serves as a prerequisite to Design and Technology II).

Emphasis is placed on self-directed projects using the design cycle to create projects based on problem solving and design opportunities. Students will continue to apply design and making skills and principles learned in D&T I while engaging with more depth in the topics preparing them for further study. In this course you will learn more about ergonomics, sustainable production, CAD/CAM modelling (using the 3D printers and laser cutter), mass production, innovation, classic design, user-centered design, resource management and innovation & markets. Students will design and build projects, and will appropriately document and evaluate the process and product in a web-based course  portfolio.

Prerequisite: D&T I  or with teacher approval  or equivalent course from other school.

This course is intended for native Bulgarians who wish to gain support and develop speaking, writing and analytic skills in their mother tongue, and to expand the knowledge about the Bulgarian culture – in particular history, folklore and national character. It is planned as a skill-based program which can be considered as both a pre-IB Bulgarian Literature course and general language and literacy. This course will seek to encourage reflective and analytic explorations of literature. Students will learn how to engage in independent literary criticisms and to express their ideas with clarity, coherence, conciseness, precision, and fluency in both written and oral communication. It will also emphasize on the precise oral and written use of language. The course of study will examine classic and modern works of literature, and will offer activities for deeper understanding of the Bulgarian national characteristics and features.

Yearbook

The yearbook course develops many skills and interests including copywriting, photography, graphic design, and publishing.  Yearbook staff members will work with various types of technology to produce a “book of memories”, such as digital cameras, scanners, and Adobe software.  Computer literacy is an essential prerequisite for this course, as students will learn and utilize the latest programs in desktop publishing.  

Laptop operating system requirement-  PC- Windows 10 or newer.  MacOS- Big Sur or newer.

This course counts towards an elective credit required for AAS diploma.

Students will generate new work through free-writing, completing an independent writing project each trimester, and working with various forms, including poetry and the personal essay. Students will determine other areas of focus based on their interests. We will be writing to discover, explore, and experiment. We will practice creating individual writing routines; listening carefully to one another’s work; giving specific, kind, and honest feedback; and asking important questions, both as givers and seekers of feedback.

Media Studies

This one-year-long elective is available to students in grades 9 and 10 who would like to improve their writing skills. Lessons will focus primarily on academic Students develop the skills necessary to produce written and/or video accounts of news stories, features articles, editorials, and sports coverage that are then published in both online and hard copy formats. Students also generate topics, identify and maintain sources, conduct interviews with various school personalities, peer edit each other’s work, and ‘keep a finger on the pulse’ of HS student life at AAS.  Added to this, students will have the opportunity to use industry standard technologies in Layout, Design, HTML Coding, Java Scripting and many other technologies. Those who select this elective must be responsible enough to meet deadlines, creative enough to produce engaging stories, eloquent enough to write and  speak with conviction, and interested in the art of writing and video production to the point of seeking to continually improve the quality of both media platforms. 

Forensic Fundamentals

This elective will explore the world of forensic science. In this class you will get hands-on experience in the different fields of science which are used to collect and process criminology evidence. We will see how crime investigation has evolved since the time of Sherlock Holmes to present day CSI. Then we will use what we have learned to solve a mystery of our own! Students will also use theory they have explored to recreate analytical techniques, so that the theory can be put into practice in real-life practical applications.

Global Politics

This elective may include topics such as power, sovereignty and international relations; human rights and development; peace and conflict and how current issues and crises affect global politics.  Students will help decide the specific areas of focus and direction of the course based on the group’s interests.

Math Circles

Math Circles are places where students and teachers get to engage with mathematically deep content presented in unique ways that promote hands-on discovery. Low-threshold, high-ceiling problems can be approached by students with minimal background but still lead to concepts rooted in advanced mathematics.