Holly High School Course Guide

Please click the link below for a full version of the Holly High School Course Guide.

2024-2025 Course Guide

HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

^Marching Band Substitution:  Students who have successfully completed 2 years of Marching Band, may choose to count those credits toward the Physical Education requirement. Students may not double dip the credits, this means the course would not count as a VPAA credit and a PE credit. A student would need to fulfill four years of Marching Band to accommodate both graduation requirements.

^^World Language Substitution: Students who have successfully completed 1 year of a World Language, may elect to fulfill the second required credit in a course outside of World Language. This can be accomplished by completing an additional 1.0 credits of VPAA or 1.0 credits in a state approved career and technical education (CTE) course.

^^^Personal Finance will become a State of Michigan graduation requirement beginning with the Class of 2028.

Senior Year Math Options

The State of Michigan requires all students to have a Math experience in their final year of high school. Since students have varied interests and may choose to follow a career path outside of traditional mathematics, they have several options to fulfill their final year mathematics graduation requirement. The chart following this information lists classes offered through Holly Area Schools that meet this requirement. 

What are Advance Placement (AP) Courses?

"Advanced Placement (AP) courses are rigorous, college-level classes in a variety of subjects that give students an opportunity to gain the skills and experience colleges recognize." Information copied from The College Board website January 25, 2018

Students will take an AP course the entire year and are given an opportunity to take the AP Exam assigned to the specific course. By completing an AP course and scoring appropriately on an AP exam, student could potentially earn college credit. You can see specific colleges’ guidelines on accepting AP scores for credit and placement by searching the AP Credit Policy Database. Here you can see how many credits your AP scores will earn you and which courses you may be able to place out of at your future college. It is important to note that this information is meant as a guide, and it is imperative that students and parents check with universities to ensure that information has not changed. Specific colleges and areas of study within universities often have specific requirements that fall outside of general guidelines. Checking with universities is a MUST!

What AP courses are offered by Holly High School?

Nearly every one of the 35 AP subjects is available at Holly High School. Many are offered as traditional building classes, while others are offered as blended online building classes, while even more are offered as fully online classes. See the table below for more information. 

What are Honors Courses? 

"Honors courses provide the rigor, pace, and independent experience that helps prepare freshmen, sophomores, and juniors for higher learning. They are highly recommended for students planning an AP honors track."  Information copied from The College Board website March 26, 2014

Honors courses are offered in traditional class settings and online (VHS). Traditional honors courses are offered in all core subject areas and additional information can be found in the specific subject area of the course guide. Below is a list of potential online (VHS) courses students can take, and additional in formation can be found in the special programs section of the course guide.  

Virtual Honors Elective (VHS) Courses include:

Arts

• Art History
• History of Photography

Foreign Language

• Spanish Culture and 20th Century Hispanic Literature

Language Arts

• 101 Ways-Write a Short Story
• Folklore and Literature of Myth, Magic and
• Ritual Shakespeare in Films
• Twentieth Cent. Women Authors

Science

• Anatomy and Physiology Animal Behavior and Zoology Genes and Disease
• Bioethics
• Pre-veterinary Medicine Environmental Chemistry
• Astronomy Principles
• Climate Change Environmental Science Honors Oceanography

Social Studies

• Arts & Ideas: Best of Western Culture Constitutional Law
• Criminology
• Economics Honors
• Eastern and Western Thought Eastern and Western Thought Government Honors
• Modern Middle East Philosophy I Psychology of Crime
• Psychology Honors
• The Glory of Ancient Rome
• The Golden Age/Classical Greece

Technology/Tech Ed

• Computational Science/Engineering-Java Computer Science Honors

Prior to taking an Advance Placement or Honors course, please talk to your counselor or AP teacher to discuss the best plan for success and potential conflicts. 

For Dual Enrollment Information, please visit our Dual Enrollment & U of M DEEP page.

Oakland Schools Technical Campuses (OTSC)

Oakland Schools Technical Campuses: The Oakland Schools Technical Campus (OSTC) is a career-focused, academic environment for high school students throughout Oakland County. OSTC provides juniors and seniors with the opportunity to spend half of their traditional high school day (3 hours) at the Northwest, Clarkston campus. Transportation is provided. Students are able to pursue their technical and career interests by focusing their studies in a variety of areas.

Programs at OSTC include:
 

• Agriscience and Environmental Technologies
• Automotive Technologies
• Collision Repair and Refinishing
• Computer Networking* (not available at the Northwest campus)
• Computer Programming
• Construction Technology
• Cosmetology* (only available at the Northeast campus)
• Criminal Justice* (only available at the Southeast campus)
• Culinary Arts and Hospitality
• Cybersecurity Networking* (only available at the Southeast campus)
• Energy - Electrical Technology
• Engineering, Robotics & Mechatronics
• Entrepreneurship & Advanced Marketing
• Health Sciences
• Machining
• Medium and Heavy Truck Equipment* (only available at the Southwest campus)
• Visual Imaging
• Welding* (not available at the Northwest campus)

*If you are interested in attending a program that is not available at the Northwest campus, please speak with your counselor about the availability of these programs.

OSTC Program Guide: View this webpage to get general information on OSTC and what programs are offered. This document contains clickable dropdowns for more detailed information.

Applying to OSTC: Students may apply for admission to OSTC prior to their junior and/or senior year. All sophomore students are invited to an OSTC presentation and field trip to learn about current programs.  When thinking about applying please consider the following:

• Make sure you speak with your counselor if you are interested in applying to OSTC and pay attention for announcements regarding application due dates.
• Students must complete an online request for consideration and an enrollment application. Students must also have an updated educational development plan.
• Space is limited in all programs. Depending on the number of applications for a program, you may be offered your 2nd choice program or placed on a waitlist.

Interested students must apply online at OSTConline.com - click on the “Apply” tab.

Oakland Technical Early College (OTEC)

Oakland Technical Early College is a program for students attending eligible OSTC programs. Students in Oakland Technical Early College will begin attending dual enrollment courses at Oakland Community College while attending OSTC and required courses at HHS. Oakland Technical Early College students add a 13th year onto their high school experience, where they take all of their courses at OCC. By the end of 13th year, these students graduate from HHS and may attain certifications from OSTC as well as a possible associate's degree from OCC. HHS students will participate in a graduation ceremony when all graduation requirements are complete, after the 13th year.

Most costs associated with the college courses are completely covered.

For more information visit Oakland Technical Early College website.

*If you have any questions regarding OSTC or OTEC please contact your Counselor or the Career Coordinator.

NCAA DIVISION I AND II ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS  

Division I Full Qualifier 

Complete 16 core courses

• English: 4 years

• Math (Algebra I or higher): 2 years 
• Natural/Physical Science (Including one year of lab, if offered): 2 years.
• ADDITIONAL(English, math, or natural/physical science): 1 year
• Social Science: 2 years
• ADDITIONAL courses (Any area listed above, foreign language or comparative religion/philosophy): 4 years
• Seven of the 10 core courses must be in English, math or natural/physical science. 

Earn a core-course GPA of at least 2.300

Earn the ACT/SAT score matching your core-course GPA on the Division I sliding scale

Graduate high school 

Academic Redshirt 

• Complete 16 core courses
• Earn a core-course GPA of at least 2.000 
• Earn the ACT/SAT score matching your core-course GPA on the Division I sliding scale.
• Graduate high school

Division II Full Qualifier 

Complete 16 core courses

• English: 3 years 
• Math (Algebra I or higher): 2 years 
• Natural/Physical Science (Including one year of lab, if offered): 2 years
•  Social Science: 2 years 
• ADDITIONAL (English, math, or natural/physical science): 3 years 
• ADDITIONAL COURSES (Any area listed above, foreign language or comparative religion/philosophy): 4 years
• Earn a core-course GPA of at least 2.200 

Students must also earn the ACT/SAT score matching your core-course GPA on the Division II full qualifier sliding scale, earn a core-course GPA of 2.20 and graduate high school.

Division II Partial Qualifier 

Complete 16 core courses (see above)

• Earn a core-course GPA of at least 2.000
• Earn the ACT/SAT score matching your core-course GPA on the Division II partial qualifier sliding scale
• Graduate high school

Test Scores and GPA

• All SAT and ACT scores must be reported directly to the NCAA Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse by the testing agency. Test scores that appear on transcripts will not be used. When registering for the SAT or ACT, use the clearinghouse code of 9999 to make sure the score is reported to the clearinghouse.
• Only core courses are used in the calculation of the grade- point average.

*Please see your counselor for a preliminary check of your NCAA eligibility.  Students should begin planning their NCAA eligibility with their counselor in 9th grade.

For more information, please visit the NCAA Eligibility website.

For Testing Out Information, please visit our Testing Out page.