Say Goodbye to 'Wham! Smash! Kapow!'

Watchung Hills Regional students may find next year's class selections a little less intriguing, if they only look at the names.

For example, the school's creative writing course studying the literary styles of graphic novels will still be offered—it just won't be called "Wham! Smash! Kapow!"

Concerned that such class names may be undermining students' ability to impress college recruiters, the school's board of education approved a move recently to change the names of several classes to avoid any misunderstanding of the actual classes.

"We're trying to get more in line with names colleges will recognize on their transcripts," Superintendent Frances Stromsland said at the Jan. 5 meeting, where the changes were approved.

While "Wham! Smash! Kapow!" will be retitled to the less-enticing "Literature Through Graphic Novels," several other renamed classes won't be as dramatically affected—Dr. Stromsland said computer animation class called "Flash Animation" will simply become "Computer Animation," and classes in child development wil be renamed to reflect the sequential classes.  

The changes also include several new freshman classes, including "Space in History" and "Business Technology."