AP Environmental Science, more commonly known as Envi Sci or APES to students, is the most recent AP course introduction of an AP course to Hingham High, as the ‘23-24 school year is the first time the course has been offered at HHS. Hingham has offered Environmental Science for years, just not at the AP level. However, the course has been recognized by the College Board as an AP since 1997, which makes Hingham comparatively late to offer the course compared to other districts. In its pilot year, the course has been very popular and there are three sections of the course filled by juniors and seniors, the two grades to which it is offered.    

There are two reasons that stand out as to why the course is likely thriving in its pilot year. First, there are fewer prerequisites to take it than other AP science courses. Unlike AP Biology, AP Chemistry, and AP Physics there is no requirement to take the previous level of the course. Therefore, students are able to take the class without prior knowledge of the subject. Second, AP Environmental Science has garnered a reputation nationwide for typically being less rigorous than the other, more traditional AP sciences. By no means is this to say that the course is easy, as it is still an AP class that comes with numerous challenges.

Junior Adri Ryan explained that she chose to take AP Environmental Science because she is, “interested in natural science and wanted to take a course I would enjoy but also be challenged in.” The curriculum has been, “pretty close to what I expected. There’s labs, it’s fast paced, but I am learning a lot!” Most students in the course feel similarly.

Hingham Science Director Michelle Romano is pleased with the launch and immediate success of the course. She comments, “We were finally able to add it to the program of studies last year to start this year. It is very successful.” 

AP Environmental Science continues the success of other AP courses added to Hingham’s repertoire in recent years including AP Computer Science A, AP Seminar, and AP Research. All of these courses were added within the last five years, and have quickly become staples in Hingham’s expansive list of courses.

Romano answered the question that many of us have likely been thinking: Will the AP Environmental Science course continue in the future? The answer is straightforward: “We will definitely continue to run the course in future years.”