By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
LAKE ORION — Three new classes could be added to Lake Orion High School’s course catalog after the Lake Orion Community Schools Board of Education gave a first reading to new course proposals on Dec. 11.
The classes are Honors Yearbook, Medical Foundations II and Medical Terminology. Each would begin at the start of the 2025-26 school year, according to LOCS documents.
Honors Yearbook
The Honors Yearbook course covers how to document a school year journalistically through design, photography and writing, according to LOHS teacher Stephanie Orth.
“Returning students become editors, photography managers and copy editors,” Orth said. “These students need to not only understand the rules of their own focus, but to teach it, to edit for it, to ensure the rules are followed page after page, story after story (and) caption after caption.”
According to LOCS documents, the course would be open to juniors and seniors who have already taken the school’s yearbook class. These students would be able to apply to be in the course and be interviewed to ensure students and Orth are “all on the same page about our expectations,” Orth said.
Students will be expected to exceed expectations while studying techniques and disciplines of journalism and print production, according to the course description. Returning staff members are also expected to move up in their position, from reporter to editor for example, and attend a summer camp before their second year.
Students in the class would be responsible for their own work and for helping other students complete deadlines.
Medical Foundations II
Students who take Medical Foundations II will have passed Medical Foundations I and “should be active members of LO HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America,) according to LOCS documents. Students will build on what they learned in Medical Foundations while gaining in-class and field experience, according to a course description.
The description says students will work with local health care providers at their facilities, build a health science career portfolio, be prepared to take the Patient Care Technician Certification Exam and become certified before graduation. This certification would help students earn experience
Upon completing the class, students will demonstrate proficiency in multiple areas including pain management, patient transfers and preventing patient falls, performing EKGs, surgical patient care, mental health care, wound and pressure ulcer care, end of life care and more.
Assistant Principal Rosa Everitt said students who go through the program and start to earn certifications will be articulated in various colleges and universities around the state.
“And when we say articulations, that means that if our students successfully pass our courses with a B or better and certifications, they’ve already earned those college credits at Oakland Community College or at Northwestern University,” Everitt said.
Medical Terminology
In “sprinkling in” medical terminology into Medical Foundations I, LOHS teacher Randy Morgan said they realized there is a lot of material to cover, and it needs to be spread out. Morgan also said, as an Honors Human Anatomy and Physiology teacher, he thought from the beginning students would be at a “much higher level” entering the class if they had a base knowledge of medical terms.
“If (students) want a career pathway in the health professions, they need to understand medical terminology,” LOHS teacher Andrew McDonald said.
The course would last one semester and require students to earn a B- or better in Biology, and encourage them to be an active member in Lake Orion HOSA, according to a course syllabus.
It would help students understand the Greek and Latin-based language of medicine and healthcare, and cover basics of medical terminology, basics of the body, the skeletal system, muscular system, digestive system, special senses, endocrine system, reproductive systems and more.
The courses are expected to be approved in January.