At the end of the 2024-25 school year, McCallum announced it would offer AP European History on the following year’s choice sheets. In addition to the five other AP history classes offered at McCallum, AP European History includes coverage of events, individuals and developments. It is an elective designed for upperclassmen and the only prerequisite is AP World History.
For McCallum to add an AP class, the AP coordinator and audit administrator had to submit an AP Course Audit to CollegeBoard to check that the curriculum provided met AP standards.
After discussion among the history department and Lisa Gorzell, the AP coordinator, it was decided who would teach the class and what period. Greg Anderson, who teaches history, expressed interest in teaching the course and was approved to do so. The first class to be taught AP European History at McCallum has 24 students in it, during fourth period. Since it’s an AP course, they will practice skills like essay writing, analyzing primary and secondary sources and observing changes and continuities over time. For Anderson, the course isn’t that much different from the current AP histories offered at Mac.
“World History now starts in 1250 and has a very heavy European focus. We have chapters over subjects that usually have like a few paragraphs,” Anderson said. “Words that were a vocabulary word in World History get paragraphs upon paragraphs of information. It has much more specific references to individuals than maybe just a list of examples.”
According to CollegeBoard, AP European History’s topics span from the mid-15th century through the 21st century. They suggest that most topics are teachable within two 45-minute class periods. Depending on how students work and what tools are available in the classroom, teachers can adjust their lesson plans accordingly.
“I started in the Middle Ages so that we can just look at Europe after the fall of Rome,” Anderson said. “Just a quick hey, Rome falls, Western Europe falls apart. And then a very quick summary of what is seven, 800 years in just a few classes. We finished the Renaissance and now we’re starting Reformation, which I’m reading about right now.”
Because he teaches world geography and AP Human Geography, Anderson has been able to edit his resources from those classes and reuse them for his AP European History students.
“I’m pulling the readings from different textbooks depending on which one I think is best, and I’m kind of doing a lot of trial and error,” Anderson said. “So it’s really up to if the students like it and they suggest it to other people to take it. I’ve put a lot of work into this class and I hope to get to use that work again in future years.”
While there is currently only one period of AP European History, McCallum will see how student interest in the class will grow. Anderson was able to see the difference in involvement between AP European History and his other classes.
“This is a class of people who are genuinely interested in history that I don’t have to press as much to do work, because they’re interested in it,” Anderson said. ”With that, I can focus more on content instead of format for the AP exam, because they’ve already learned the format in 10th grade.”
The history center, a club run by students, will have a new subject to attend to. Co-presidents senior Iris LaRue and senior Abigail Peacock, joined the history center last school year. LaRue took AP World History sophomore year and had Jennifer Richter as her AP United States History teacher the year following. She spent lunch every Friday in Richter’s room and was introduced to the history center through her.
“Me and the other history center manager Abigail Peacock were the only two juniors interested, so we decided to be co-presidents together,” LaRue said. “I loved being a part of the organization so much that at the end of the year I ran for an officer position.”
As co-president, LaRue has posted flyers to recruit more tutees. Some social studies classes are implementing extra credit points for students who attend history center sessions.
AP European History is for juniors and seniors, all of whom have taken at least one prior AP history class. They already have the skills needed to contextualize, form arguments and reason historically — things students seek help with in the history center.
“We typically look for people that have taken an AP class before and did well on the exam, as well as someone who is friendly and supportive,” LaRue said.
Juniors and seniors in Anderson’s fourth period find themselves excited to go to class, including junior Samantha Panzer.
“I really like Mr. Anderson. AP Euro is a really fun class so far, and having him as the teacher helps me stay engaged. I’m really fascinated with Europe and I’m glad that McCallum offers something this specific,” Panzer said.
