The AP Human Geography class is the equivalent of an introductory college-level course. “The curriculum taught reflects the goals of the 2012 National Geography Standards,” said AP Human Geography teacher Ms. Albornoz.  Throughout the course students will gain knowledge of “patterns and processes that have shaped human understanding, use, and alteration of Earth’s surface,” she said. Students will also learn to think like geographers, as they will be introduced to the methods and tools that they use.

This 2017-2018 school year is the first year that the class has been taught since 2010. Ms. Albornoz says that she has a passion for geography, so when teachers were asked by assistant principal Ms. Leal, at the end of the 2016-2017 school year, what classes they’d prefer to teach, she requested this one.

“I thought it was a shame we have not taught AP Human Geography at Miami Senior High for some years now, so I thought I would request to teach the course. Luckily, it all worked out and here we are,” she said.

The 35 students who signed up all have different reasons for taking the course. “I thought that it’d be interesting to learn about the world and how people adjust to life based on their surroundings,” said sophomore Ashley Nunez. Sooyung Navarro, also a sophomore, chose the course because “what you get out of it is nice.”

Ms. Albornoz is excited for this school year. “My main goal is for my students to gain a new perspective on the world around them,” she said. She hopes that with the new perspective they will learn to tolerate and accept the many different cultures in the world around them. “I like to call it, becoming a global citizen,” she said.

While Ms. Albornoz has her expectations for her students, students have their own expectations for the class. Senior Areliz Trujillo expects the class to be interesting, because she was encouraged by one of her friends who had taken the course at another school. “She told me that she really enjoyed the class, so I wanted to give it a try,” she said.

Carlos Cordova, a sophomore, said that everyone was talking about the class which got him more hyped to take it.

Ms. Albornoz, who sees the addition of the course as an opportunity for growth in the social studies department, said, “There are so many interesting social studies courses that we can offer in the future, and I hope by bringing AP Human Geography back to Miami High, we can inspire more social studies courses to be offered.”