By AJ Alarcon

The Ateneo Senior High Advancement Classes (ASHAC) 2025 officially began on Thursday, June 5, offering various academic and non-academic onsite courses designed to prepare incoming grade 11 and 12 students for School Year (SY) 2025–2026.

Held at the Ateneo Senior High School (ASHS) Main Building, the daily sessions consist of Sessions A and B held from 3 PM to 4 PM and from 4:15 PM to 5:15 PM, respectively.

Course Offerings 

The participants were offered various courses such as Gamiting Filipino sa Akademikong Diskurso, Research Sandbox, BioLab Exploration, Data Detective Lab, Malikhaing Pagsulat sa Filipino, and Speech and Stage Arts.

However, the insufficient turnout of enrollees of the two Filipino courses — Gamiting Filipino sa Akademikong Diskurso and Malikhaing Pagsulat sa Filipino — led to their cancellation.

Moreover,  there are courses specific for incoming grade 11 students such as the English Bridging Program, Physical Science, Statistics and Probability, and General Mathematics.

Furthermore, the incoming seniors had the option to enroll in the English Bridge to College.

In addition, there are strand-specific courses such as Bookkeeping for Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM) and General Academics (GA).

Meanwhile, Special Topics in Chemistry, Trigonometry and Analytic Geometry, Basic Calculus, and Special Topics in Physics were offered to students from GA and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) strands.

There is also a course on Test-Taking Skills, with sessions focused on “time management, smart guessing, handling tricky questions, and staying sharp under pressure.”

The ASHAC 2025 Experience

In the lead-up to its opening, course facilitators have been creating visual aids and assessments in preparation for ASHAC 2025.

Basic Calculus course facilitator, Mr. Christian Galope, shared, “My preparations for ASHAC are really about giving them a simple and clear preview of what to expect in the regular Basic Calculus course in the second semester.”

“My goal is to help them get a feel [of] the subject, so they know what to prepare for and what challenges they might face when they take the full course later on,” he added.

“I honestly believe that ASHAC is a great way to give them this kind of head start before the actual school year begins,” Galope concluded.

Rein Exconde, an incoming STEM senior, attends the classes on Special Topics in Chemistry to “lessen the load and confusion later on,” by understanding the lesson during the summer break. 

“So far, it’s been pretty good. We’ve taken diagnostic tests already, and I noticed that some topics feel familiar. It’s reassuring and motivating at the same time,” he expressed. 

The ASHAC program will run every weekday until June 19.