Campus to gain four classes

Digital Marketing and Advanced Stagecraft are among the new career-centered courses.

As Diamond Bar High School’s campus undergoes renovation, its curriculum will also be revamped with several new Career Technical Education courses for the next school year.

These courses include Career Explorations through Technology, Digital Marketing through Social Media ROP, Business Management/Entrepreneurship and Advanced Stagecraft.

“Anybody can take these courses and market themselves as a brand and gain many career skills,” Instructional Dean Gabriel Aguilar said. “We are giving the students a glimpse of what these career paths look like and which one might be right for them.”

Career Explorations through Technology will be a one semester-long course similar to the Microsoft Office User Specialist and Information Communication Technology courses it will replace, and will be taught by previous ICT and MOUS teacher Linda Morales. CET will allow Brahmas to meet their technology course requirement, while exploring the career pathway programs that DBHS offers each week.

Students who aspire to become entrepreneurs or want to learn the workings behind manufacturing can learn how to start and grow their business with the two entrepreneurship pathway courses. They must first take Digital Marketing, a year-long course designed for sophomores, juniors and seniors to learn how to start a business and use social media to promote their business.

The next course for Brahmas who wish to pursue entrepreneurship is the Business Management/Entrepreneurship course for students who already taken the Digital Marketing course. Replacing the Sports Marketing course, this class will use everything that the students learned in Digital Marketing to design projects ranging from T-shirts to banner printing. Both of these courses will be taught by  Sports Marketing and Business Math teacher Sabrina Ruiz-Emmons.

Another course that will be offered by the school next semester will be Advanced Stagecraft, which will be taught by current Stagecraft teacher Jenna Riley. Students must first take Stagecraft as a prerequisite. Advanced Stagecraft will be a year-long course teaching students skills such as how to use lighting software to program the lights to turn different colors during a performance, to train them to become certified light technicians.

“We are buying new laptops, soundboards and light boards and upgrading our program so that the students can learn how to program and that’s why [Advanced Stagecraft] is an advanced course,” Aguilar said.

Aguilar is looking for a match at Mt. SAC for the same career pathways courses offered at DBHS so students can have the opportunity to receive college credit.