In accordance with our mission statement, South Lake strives to provide learning and social opportunities to all students beyond the traditional classroom setting. These opportunities include our Visual and Performing Arts program, the Career Technical Education program, lunchtime and after school sports, school squads, and academic competitions. Please click on the links for additional information.
Visual and Performing Arts
South Lake offers a variety of elective classes in the art disciplines of Visual Arts, Dance, Theater, and Music. These electives include Art I, Ceramics, Advanced Art, Chorus, Drama, Concert Band, String Orchestra, and Symphonic Orchestra. For complete descriptions of these electives, refer to the course catalogs on our Academics page.
Please check back for images of the Visual and Performing Arts classes in action!
Click here to go to IUSD's Visual and Performing Arts web page.
Career Technical Education
Middle school is the perfect time to begin to explore careers and find out what interests a student might have. Career exploration through hands-on, project-based activities in elective courses is available at South Lake. These electives include:
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Exploratory Engineering: No prerequisites required. This course is offered to all students who want to be exposed to the basics of 3D design/printing, coding, and cybersecurity. Students will start with a simple computer-aided design (CAD) software called Tinkercad 3D to design products. Students will have the opportunity to compete in the ocMakerChallenge that focuses on the five stages of Design Thinking: empathize, define (the problem), ideate, prototype, and test. For coding, the two main platforms students will be learning are Code.org and Scratch.mit.edu. For fast learners, you will also have an opportunity to combine coding skills with simple circuits using the Makey-Makey and Arduino. Students will also learn the basics of cybersecurity to be able to join the CyberPatriot competition as an option.
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Engineering Concepts: This is a year-long course for students who have a desire to learn more advanced skills in 3D designs, robotics, engineering, and cybersecurity. In this class, students will learn a more industry expert online CAD softwares called Onshape and/or Fusion 360. Students will compete in the ocMakerChallenge with STEM projects that will include sensors from digital devices such as Arduinos or Raspberry Pi. Students will also have opportunities to design, build, and code robots using VEX Robotics or Linkbots which are currently being utilized by the UC Davis C-STEM program. The class will also cover more in depth cybersecurity topics such as Windows 7, Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, and Ubuntu 16. Students will have an option to compete and use VMware in the nationwide CyberPatriot competition. This class is advanced and has rigorous expectations of students. All students interested in this class must complete an Engineering Concepts Eligibility Packet and return it to Mrs. Le on or before the registration deadline.
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Digital Photography: No prerequisites required. This course will introduce students to art elements and principles of design through photography, photo editing, and video production in three equal parts. Students will learn proper usage and care of a digital camera, composition, and file management for creation of digital and print products. They will explore and apply fundamental design concepts using programs such as Adobe Photoshop and Premiere. The unit on video production will also introduce students to common film shots and professional filming equipment. As a whole, the Digital Media Arts course encourages students to critically explore the role and function of imagery, language, and presentation using digital media.
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Advanced Art: This class is for students who show a strong interest in learning more about different media arts pathways such as fine arts, graphic arts, video production, digital photography, etc. This class will expose students to that field and will be a combination of research, project based assignments, collaborative work, field trips, and independent work to develop a personal portfolio for students wanting to pursue one of these pathways at the high school level. It is recommended that students complete at least one of these classes before taking this course: ceramics, art, digital photography, technology. Enrollment in the course is through approval from Mrs. Adoff.
Visit our South Lake CTE web page for the latest happenings in our classes! For more information about the district program, please visit IUSD's page on Career Technical Education.
Lunch Time Sports
Please check back for images of our lunch time sports teams in action!
South Lake Squads
Please check back for information about our squads that are open to all students!
Academic Competitions
South Lake provides access to academic competitions in major subject areas that extend beyond the classroom. Please visit our Student Enrichment Activities page for more information.