Mike Pankonien
Staff Writer

AP European History; sounds like a hard class right? Sounds like hours and hours of reading, memorizing and analyzing with a cranky old history professor right?

You couldn’t be more wrong.

Let’s get the basics out of the way: AP European History, an analysis on the European continent from 1000 A.D. to today, is taught in B205 by Michael Brock. The course only counts as an elective and the AP credit may or may not be so helpful to you down the road in college.

So why should you take this class when you could potentially take a release period instead?

Some students would tell you that the class is incredibly easy; I won’t lie, it is. The hardest assignments are take home quizzes. Projects are almost always due by midnight (giving you more than enough time to do them that day), most content in class consists of a power point, and Mr. Brock is easily the most laid back teacher in the school.

That being said, a class’s worth can’t be defined merely by it’s work load, which Mr. Brock himself makes up for. Mr. Brock, while easy going and personable, is an extremely intelligent teacher who has lots to teach about history. He is fun, energetic and extremely enthusiastic about the content he teaches. Most days in class are spent listening to Mr. Brock give lectures on the reunification of Germany or the politics of the Pope in the 14th century. And while the content may seem heavy (who wants to memorize everything that happened in Europe over the span of more than 600 years?), Mr. Brock teaches it in a way that breaks it up into manageable, easy to learn chunks.

AP Euro is the perfect ending to a senior year, or a great way to start out any other class year at CHS. You’ll find yourself not only learning tons of European history, but enjoying it as well. I cannot recommend this class enough.

Check out this link to the official College Board description.