Lucky for Centennial students, next year there will be a new science class added. Mr.Mckee, a chemistry and AP environmental science teacher at Centennial, has officially confirmed the approval of his new science class called “Science Of Happiness”.
In January 2024, McKee heard the great news of his newest science curriculum. It is all about empowering students to be happier, more content, and more successful in life and what it has to offer.
“I aspire to give them the tools needed to deal with any stress or anxiety they may have and the challenges life can present them with.” Mckee stated.
He has been pushing for this class to be a part of Centennial’s science curriculum and they gladly accepted and approved it making it a .500 credit for those who take it. The students who are able to take this upcoming class are sophomores-seniors, giving it a wide variety on who is able to take it.
In the class, students will be messing around with journaling to see if it will contribute to the uprisings of people’s happiness. Along with journaling, they will be going into a bit of philosophy and research the philosophy of happiness which goes into the philosophical understanding of the relation between existence, nature, and attainment to happiness. The last sneak peek of what is in store is that students will be grappling with modernity to see how phones, internet, etc. negatively or positively impact student’s happiness due to it always evolving. McKee’s hope is to be able to take notice of how students’ moods change for better or for worse in the duration of them taking this class.
It is expressed that McKee doesn’t plan to produce specific scientific recordings of mood changes because there are always proven errors in self-recordings due to being asked subjective questions (“Are you happy?” “How can you be happier?”). It’s harder to self record data like that when it makes you tense or overthink and that is not what this class is about.
While asking many seniors if they could’ve taken the Science of Happiness class their senior year, they all said they would and it sounds intriguing.
“I think having a class that not only teaches me more tools on how to bring my mood up but also helps me relax and understand more about why I feel a certain way,” Alyona Opshytosh a senior at Centennial stated, “I would want to take it immediately.”
As of right now there is positive feedback on this upcoming class and hopefully people throughout the years will take it and carry what they have learned with them through life. McKee is very excited and grateful to start this science class in hopes to show how to improve student’s mood but also deal with stressful and rocky situations better. Science Of Happiness is finally coming to Centennial in fall of 2024.