“Once at the end of a student presentation about saving dolphins, or whales, something like that, a student put a clip of Germany’s 7 – 2 world cup win against Brazil on screen. Once I figured out what was going on I slid across the table, yelled at the student, and stopped the video,” World Area Studies teacher Mr. John Reed said.

This is one of many “out of the ordinary” occurrences that happen in World Area studies.

World Area Studies is listed as a K credit class with no prerequisite courses which revolves around current events, debates over pressing issues and unique projects. Ranging from making posters with cd cases or videos about Anonymous and some involving foreign leaders and their policies.

“I was sitting in the audience (classroom) and my friend was playing Kim Jong Un, and he called me to the front,” senior Arianna Gamarra said.

Mr. Reed is a 6 foot 2 ,vegetarian and ardent fan of Brazilian soccer. He’s been teaching here for several years and also teaches World History. Many students he recruits for World Area Studies come from his World History classes.

One thing that distinguishes this class from other classes is the curriculum which changes based on current events. Like the Syrian civil war, teachers pay, pollution, Trump’s border wall and more. This means that one year is always different than the other in what is covered.

“I like teaching it because it’s organic, it changes every year and it’s spontaneous. That’s one of the reasons I like teaching it,” Reed said.

The year starts out calm, but as the class continues more controversial topics are covered.

“We just finished talking about teacher wages, it was interesting,” junior Grace Steed said.

“Most students complain about what they are learning in school today and that it has no practical application, but this class has plenty,” Reed said. “It’s about what’s going on in the world,  let me go out on a limb and say that’s important.”