As the 2012-2013 school year ended, students were once again faced with the arduous task of making their schedule for the next school year. Most students try to get at least one study hall so that they can do homework during the school day to decrease the workload. Last year changed up things a bit, as Prep moved from quarter classes to semester classes. While the school year is still separated into four quarters, all the classes now offered are either a full year or one semester.
This change made some of the normally one quarter classes into two quarters. For example, health and gym are now one class that is one semester long. Each class needs to be separated over the course of the week; however, since two classes must share the gym and the health room.
New classes that haven’t been offered before are also being added. One of those classes is Microstation CAD. If you are unsure as to what Microstation CAD is, you are probably in the same boat as many of the students who signed up for it. I am in the class and was unaware as to what it was when I signed up for it. I was just told that it was designing stuff on computers.
The class’s full name, Microstation Computer Aided Design, gives more of an idea as to what you do in the class. Microstation is sort of like an architecture program, and with it you can do things like designing houses or laying out floor plans, complete with measurements of rooms.

The program itself is pretty overwhelming at first, but now that everyone in the class has been using it for over a quarter of the school year, people have the hang of it for the most part. The class takes advantage of the new computer lab, which houses tablet PCs, an external monitor for each, and a mouse.
The teacher of the class, Mr. Ng, says that he is very excited to be able to teach Microstation CAD at Prep. Usually known as being a math teacher, Mr. Ng put math on hold for the first semester of the year and is teaching other classes. He said that he has been wanting to teach the class for a few years now, but other teachers were unsure as to what exactly the class entailed. He is happy that he is now able to teach the class.
Although it is not the easiest class at Prep, it is by far one of the most unique, and it offers a different challenge than many of the other electives that are offered. There are currently three periods of the class, and each is pretty small since students were wary of trying out the new class, but I am sure by next year the class will be pretty full and will become one of the most sought after and well-liked classes at Prep.