By: Dylan DiMaggio ‘21
In the sphere of Holy Cross Academia, there is one class that stands out among the rest. The class of mention is one of high anticipation for all who move through High School because it is a class exclusively for seniors. The class is, as many know, Dr. Wegmann’s Psychology Dual Enrollment class. This is the only class he teaches, and it usually consists of around 40 to 50 students in one period. Psychology DE is unique in the fact that it is taught and structured like a real college class, due to Dr. Wegmann’s belief that the class is best run this way. In one class, he said that if he could, he may even “make class attendance optional.” Usually, the class has an ACT score requirement to get in, but due to the pandemic, the ACT score requirement was lifted for this year, which allowed some students who may not have fit the requirements the lucky opportunity to get in. Wegmann also has an excited fervor while teaching that shows his obvious extreme interest in the subjects that are discussed. But, this fun class does have its challenges. The low number of grades and lack of easy homework points per semester make each grade really count, and some through the years have proved to not be able to handle either the added responsibility of more freedom or the challenging nature of the class. As a fallback option, Dr. Wegmann always makes sure that the regular Psychology class takes place at the same period as its dual enrollment counterpart, just in case some students feel that they cannot handle the various responsibilities and need to switch to the regular Psych class.
As can be expected, this class had to heavily adapt to the return to school during Covid, since there is a cap on the number of students allowed in a classroom at one time. Instead of cutting 20+ people from the class, Dr. Wegmann instead opted to split the class in half (which he calls Sunshine group and Rainbow Group) and swap the two groups every class between an in-class meeting in the theater for one group, and a virtual meeting in the library for the other group. As part of my investigation into this class, I asked two students currently enrolled in the class the same question to see how their responses differed. The students were prompted with, “What was the main reason you decided to enroll in this class?” Senior George Guilford responded with, “The subject matter is interesting, also so I can have better human interaction.” Another respondent to my question, senior Christian Dreis, said he joined the class to “try and read people’s minds.” Reasons for joining this class are quite varied and quite interesting as well. No matter the reason students give for enrolling in the class, their experience almost always seems to be a positive one that even former seniors claim to have enjoyed and heavily recommend, which is a major reason the class is so popular. So, good luck to the students taking the class this year as well as the many who will take it in the future!