by Reese Pastrana

On Thursday, June 27, 2024, the Ateneo Senior High Advancement Classes (ASHAC) officially started in the Ateneo Senior High School Building, preparing incoming Grade 11 and 12 students for School Year 2024-2025. 

The program, lasting from 2:30PM to 5:00 PM, is divided into two sessions. Session A lasts from 2:30 to 3:30 PM while Session B holds the hours of 4:00 to 5:00 PM.

The program offers different courses for students to take, varying from subjects including topics from Filipino, Mathematics, and Science. 

There are also several courses that widens the scope of ASHAC, having subjects that focus on the creativity of the students to their skills in sports, as seen in the Acting, Storytelling, & Multidimensional Thinking course and the Recreational Badminton Advance Course.

For Grade 11 students, some of the offered courses are Physical Science, Basic Calculus, General Mathematics, Earth and Life Science, and Gamiting Filipino sa Akademikong Diskurso.

As for Grade 12 students; Physics, Chemistry, and Biology are among their course options. Strand-specific subjects such as Accounting and Bookkeeping for the ABM strand are also available.

The ASHAC keeps its doors open to the recent graduates of Batch 24, as there are also classes on Special Topics in College Physics ongoing, which are for STEM and GA with Physics Elective graduates.

Fae Velasco, an incoming STEM junior, shared her current experience with the ASHAC, “So far, first day pa lang namin, so medyo naninibago pa. [I’m] trying to get to know and see [how] the system works in Ateneo. Pero, it’s fun naman kasi new experience and you get to learn stuff,” she said.

Tiel Blanca, an incoming STEM senior, also commented on why he chose to participate in the program and how it helps him enhance his understanding of the subjects he will encounter in the upcoming year.

“I decided to take up General Chemistry and General Physics for this year’s ASHAC, given that I consider these two fields of Science to be the most difficult. I’ve always found it challenging to properly grasp the concepts and lessons in these two subjects, which is why I wanted to try to familiarize myself with the topics in these courses beforehand to not face them unprepared once the school year resumes,” he narrated.

“Through ASHAC, I hope to be able to bridge the learning gaps and weaknesses that I currently have in these two subjects and build on my ability to critically understand all necessary concepts,” he added.

The ASHAC will be running on site until July 10, in time for the nearing start of the school year.