Westview has recently updated the list of classes offered on the 2023-2024 Course Request Form (CRF), with a combination of brand new and returning courses.

The classes are Chinese 1-2 through 7-8 and AP, Mobile App Development, Business Principles and Strategies, Computer Integrated Manufacturing, Harmony 1-2, Beginning Dance, and Intermediate Dance. 

The new Chinese classes were first proposed by Edward Park, the director of PUSD’s Global Languages and Innovative Programs, in response to community feedback. They will serve as a continuation of the language pathway that the district is currently building for students to learn Mandarin throughout elementary and middle school. 

“The purpose of offering the Mandarin course at Westview High School is to give students access to traditional Chinese culture and language to foster a greater appreciation for diversity amongst their peers,” Park said.

Additionally, it aims to open up new avenues of enrichment such as potential travel experiences through the school and opportunities for foreign studies, along with providing new insight into global perspectives.  

Mobile App Development came about because computer science teacher Domingo David noticed that students ran out of Computer Science courses after completing AP Computer Science A. 

“Mobile App Development will serve as the capstone course for those that have completed the Computer Science CTE Pathway, and the course will build the foundational skills necessary to be a mobile developer,” David said. 

He said that he believes that there’s an audience of creative and technical students with a desire to apply their existing knowledge who would benefit from this class. 

Business Principles and Strategies was a class suggested by Paul O’Beirne, who taught Intro to Finance and Marketing this year, in an effort to give students an opportunity to increase the variety of business classes that Westview offers. He said he hopes that it will bring more publicity to the Business Career Technical Education pathway and introduce students to it. 

“Small ‘chunks’ of business courses will be the focus of the class,” O’Beirne said. “We might explore marketing for a given number of weeks and then switch it up to finance for any number of weeks. The goal at the end of it being that the student has a clear understanding of what business classes are offered and what classes interest them most.” 

One of the new additions to the Performing Arts department is Harmony 1-2, suggested by Associate Director of Instrumental Music at Westview Martin Fierro. 

The target audience is students with an interest in music. 

“My hope is that students who maybe have never taken a music class, but have always wanted to learn, would take this class,” Fierro said. 

The course will cover the basics of music theory, including how to read both music and rhythms, and how to compose music. Additionally, there will be aspects of singing and rhythm performances. 

New dance classes will also be returning this year. They’ve both been offered before, but due to complications with staffing, they were removed from the CRF. However, recent interest from parents of dancers has prompted administrators to offer them again. 

Both Beginning Dance and Intermediate Dance would count as either PE or elective credits. The difference is the course material; Basic Dance would focus more on the fundamentals of choreography and movement, while Intermediate would include dance history and kinesiology. 

“For beginning dancers, I think it could be an introduction to the fourth strand of performing arts that they may not get otherwise, since they may not seek it outside of a public education system,” said current Assistant Principal Shannon Parker and former teacher of these courses. “For the advanced dancer, I think it gives them an opportunity to supplement the private studio education that they get with dance academia.”