We live in this vast amount of space consisting of thousands and thousands of schools from preschools to high schools, from Ohio to California and yet the core curriculum seems to be identical.

However, Solon High School (SHS) appears to bring diversity to its the curriculum by implementing new courses that aren’t the regular math, science, english or history core classes.

Starting a few years ago, SHS introduced new courses in the different core departments such as African-American History, Media Communications and Facing History.

This year SHS took a new turn. Instead of implementing courses within the core departments, new courses started to appear in the Art and Physical Education departments.Although in the 2018-2019 school year only two new courses were added, the courses showed creativity and research by teachers and administration.With that being said, Yoga and Animation Design were new courses for this school year.

The reasoning and facts behind the inclusion of Yoga as a class option really showed the desire to be diverse with its educational needs and also the well-being of the students at SHS.

Studies on the impact of yoga show the benefits such as decreased stress levels, improvement of mood and longer periods of focus.That on its own is one of the reasons SHS implemented Yoga as a course for students.

“With the high expectations, rigorous classes and coursework for SHS students we decided the students needed an option to just cool down, relax and reduce stress, that’s why we brought yoga class as an option in our curriculum,” said Melissa Fitzgerald, the yoga class instructor.

The mindsets of SHS’s counselors, teachers, students and administration has shifted to being more mindful-this paved the way for a Yoga to help boost the platform of becoming mindful.

“I took yoga to get the opportunity to relax my mind during the day, and get away from the stress from all of my other class and of course get a nice full body stretch,” said yoga student Kaitlyn Thompson.

In addition to adding yoga to the list of courses, Animation Design made its way also.

Mr.Nyerges, an art department teacher, took the role to teach Animation Design. He describes  this course as an upbeat option for students interested in being hands-on with computers and technology in order to create different animations.

“Many people don’t know that Animation Design is even a class so it’s kind of under the radar, but the kids that are exposed to this class are given the opportunity to experience animation on a new level,” Nyerges said.

Mr.Nyerges explains that Animation Design and Yoga brought a new look at things for Solon students, not only perspective wise but a new look for themselves.

This year, SHS is focusing on the wellbeing and mindfulness of its students, and the addition of these classes made it known.