Physics gains momentum
Six years ago, no one at Jones High School took physics classes. Today, enrollment has surged to 250.
Je’ Nyia Burton worried when she learned she’d been enrolled in physics for her senior year at Jones High School.
“It looks like a lot of math,” she thought unhappily, fearing a bad grade.
But now, as the school year winds down, the 18-year-old would tell younger students not to fret when they see physics on their schedules.
“You’re going to like physics because I liked it,” she said. “If you keep asking questions, you’re going to get it.”
Physics, which wasn’t offered at Jones six years ago, has had a resurgence on the Orlando school’s campus, with most seniors
JONATHAN NOEL/COURTESY PHOTO now taking the class considered a key foundation for the so-called STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
This year, more than 250 students at Jones — Orlando’s
historically Black high school — are in a physics class. That means physics enrollment at the Orange County school district’s