Small numbers in a pretty big high school building will have an obvious advantage come fall. Unlike Portland or Lewiston, Telstar will have little trouble with 6’ distancing. There are also longer term, perhaps more important, advantages. Notably, the opportunity for the right sort of small classes.

College courses come as a shock to too many new students. They must read and write, calculate and experiment. A lot! And think: hard! For those who really want to be prepared, high schools should help. Big schools can offer a whole range of advanced subjects. But small schools can offer the high intensity that goes with small classes: each student is individually challenged and assisted.

That’s what Advanced Placement (AP), Honors and Advanced classes are for. Taking one or two a year, in sophomore, junior and senior years, helps you get more out of high school, and get ready to go on. Try a math or science, and a humanities or social science, each year. You probably prefer one area or the other, but tastes change in college; English majors become pre-meds, and vice versa. AP classes have the added advantage of college credit.

AP English and U.S. History, Advanced Chemistry and Topics in Biology, Honors Geometry and any Calculus, etc.: choices to make. Colleges offer summer classes for high school students (see the recent report on UM Farmington in The Citizen). For seniors there’s always the option of dual enrollment at Central Maine Community College, with Telstar picking up the bill.

This is not the easy route. It means going beyond the required minimum: more time spent reading, writing, calculating and experimenting; more self-discipline; more discussion; more critical thinking. It’s more work for teachers, too; fortunately, the right teachers jump at the chance. Teachers and professors are a valuable human resource: learn to use them.

Intense, advanced classes will help you when you’re in college. They’ll also help you get in. Constant reading, writing, calculating make for high SAT scores; they work far better than expensive prep classes. And great experiences in classes can be the basis of really good admission essays.

David R Jones wishes he took more advanced classes when he had the chance.