The Social Studies department is a constant necessity of East High. This year there are two new members, one of whom is Mr. Peterson. East has been fortunate to have Mr. Peterson as a student teacher before he became a teacher here. He student taught for Mr. McCurdy. Mr. Blankenship is the other new social studies teacher here at East. He had previous teaching experience in a small town for 5 years prior to coming to East.

In addition to new teachers, the social studies department has slowly been adding more classes to accommodate rising student population. This year there are a lot more sophomores taking AP classes, which helps the social studies enrollment numbers rise. Compared to last year, there are 2 more AP Human Geography classes and the same amount of AP World History (more commonly called WHAP). There is also one more AP United States History (APUSH) class this year.

Although there are more classes, there are fewer classrooms for the social studies department this year. This department lost one classroom and switched planning centers. This creates more shared room ownership between social studies teachers.

Looking towards the future, there will be the Psych Fair coming up this fall, so stay tuned! There will be an AP Government and Politics – We the People (or WePo) competition in early January. One more thing to note is that there will be changes to the WHAP exam next Spring. For more information on these, stay up to date with the East High Oracle.