Mrs. Mowery’s AP Psych class allowed me to see my love for developmental psychology. Many Juniors and Seniors here at Armuchee take our offered AP Psychology class. Psychology, also abbreviated as “Psych” is the scientific study of the mind and behaviour, and Mrs. Mowery’s AP Psych class is equivalent to an introductory college-level course. Within taking the course, students learn anything and everything to do with Psychology. Isaac Tucker, Senior, said, “AP Psychology has greatly expanded my knowledge of how the brain works and how we perceive the world around us.” Cailyn Poole, a Senior here at Armuchee, said, “I took Psychology to learn more about why people act the way they do and to have rigour to my schedule.” Many students take away key concepts from psychology towards other parts of their lives, rather than just meeting requirements for school. Emma Reed, Junior, said, “I took AP Psych because of my own experiences in my personal life. Having two siblings with autism, I wanted to be able to understand their struggles and how to help them.”  

General education, also known as “Gen Ed,” are the requirements and credit hours a student would need once they arrive at college. Although any Psychology class is not a required class to take in high school, if a student were to take AP Psych their Junior and/or Senior year and score a 3 or better on the exam it would help them meet their credit hour requirements in college. Almost every Psych class goes towards a core curriculum called social science. Some other classes within the social science curriculum include many economic and history classes. This means that a student who were to attend Georgia Tech would collect the same amount of credit hours from a General Psychology class as they would from a Mediaeval England class. For example, one college may accept 5 classes that would count towards credit hours while another may accept 200 classes that can count towards the same core curriculum.  Psychology, however, doesn’t have to be the major a student takes. Mandy Salmon, Senior, took AP Psych to count as an extra science credit. Wanting to pursue a career in nursing, she said, “Psychology plays a big role in healthcare, and I wanted to be prepared for college courses that will cover it more in-depth.”

Emma, who is planning to become a teacher, said, “With my Psychology knowledge, I believe I could do my job better. I truly feel that I can assist students in achieving their academic goals.”  The University of Georgia, also known as “UGA” has a large Psych department with over 2,100 graduates majoring in Psychology every year, so it’s no surprise that UGA will accept many Psychology classes as credit hours towards their Gen Ed requirement for Social Science. Cailyn said, “Mrs. Mowery’s AP Psych class allowed me to see my love for developmental psychology and led me to want to pursue a career in child developmental therapy.” Other colleges that have one or more Psych classes listed within their Social Science core curriculum are Georgia Tech, Berry College, and Dalton State. However, certain colleges don’t list or count any Psychology classes as something to help with meeting credit hours whatsoever. Colleges such as Kenessaw and Georgia Southern do not count Psychology within their general education requirements, meaning any Psychology class will simply be an elective and not count towards meeting the required credit hours.

A major in Psychology, however, isn’t the only reason students here at Armuchee are taking this class. Even though AP Psych may not count in terms of credit hours to certain colleges, “It is a super fun class that helps students understand themselves better by learning about how other people act”, said Cailyn. AP Psychology offers students the opportunity to learn both in and out of the classroom. Isaac said, “The class is a good course to experience for future studies in college especially if I end up doing anything with neurology.” It’s often said that studying others helps one to understand more about themselves in the process, which is the case with many students including Emma. She said, “I believe understanding more about the brain and personality has made me more open minded and respectful.”

AP Psych has brought new experiences into the lives of the students taking the class. “Many of the hands-on projects made complex concepts much easier to grasp,” said Mandy. Some students in AP Psych enjoyed a project they did called the Celebrity Brain Project, where the objective was to create a drawing and diagram based off of how the brain of a celebrity would work. Emma said, “I am a huge Taylor Swift fan, and being able to make a project about my favorite musician was super fun!” She also said, “The conversations I have had at my table about psychology have been some of the funniest.”