CHS is known as a school with students that excel in academics. With the new school year already taking place this year at CHS are proving their academics skills as many students are not only enrolled in the most rigorous CHS classes but also enrolled in the Claremont Consortium college classes.

Not only are these classes more advanced, but students who take these classes are able to be exposed to the college feel before they even attend a university. This is very beneficial because these students get a chance to see and what the college atmosphere is like so that once they head off to college, they have a slight idea on what it is going to be like in the future, both academically and socially.

Ian Yu, a senior at CHS is taking two college classes, one being Calculus 3 at Pitzer College and General Chemistry/Laboratory at Pomona College. After having exhausted CHS’s higher level science and math course offerings as Yu took AP Biology, AP Physics 1, AP Chemistry, and AP Calculus BC the previous year, Yu decided he wanted to do something new. Yu leaves CHS at at around 8:50 am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to attend his math class at Pitzer and then his Chemistry class at Pomona. Yu will even stay until 5:00 pm at Pomona College twice a week to do a chemistry lab. Although he is a high school student in a college class, the students all treat Yu like he is their little brother and he reports the experience overall is very positive.

“I get the feeling that these kids [in my chemistry class] genuinely care about what they’re learning and have a great aspirations to become research scientists,” Yu said.

However, Yu is not the only student who is taking classes at the colleges. Junior Kevin Hamel is taking German 101: Introduction to German Culture at Pomona College. When Hamel first arrived as a freshman at CHS, he was tested and put into German 3 because of his prior German experience. Hamel then decided to take German at the colleges because he finished IB German 4 by the end of his sophomore year and still wanted to continue taking the language.

The first day of college class was a bit intimidating for Hamel, but a few days later, everything became more comfortable since he got to know the small group of students in his class.

“It is a great opportunity because it is a higher level class, and it’s just fun to be at the colleges. There are only 15 people in the class and everyone is nice,” Hamel said.

There is another handful of students who are also in the same position as Yu and Hamel, and hopefully, they are enjoying their time taking college classes as much as these two. If anyone at CHS is interested in taking college classes, they can ask their counselors or these outstanding students for more information.