Totalling 436 students, this year’s freshman class is the largest class at Aragon. Contrary to the administration’s prediction last year, the substantial size increase of the class of 2020 was not a one-time occurrence and may indicate a recurring theme of larger classes in the future.
“We have 1,642 total students, 436 freshmen, 432 in sophomore year, almost 400 in the junior year, then 375 with the seniors.” said assistant principal Ron Berggren.
Despite similarity in freshman and sophomore class numbers, the reasons the increases differ. Last year, the influx of freshmen was due to Hillsdale’s construction. However, now that the construction has finished, the influx seems to have stemmed from a minor baby boom, the desirability of Aragon’s academic performance and the increased transfer gap.
As this wave of increased births has culminated and more children have begun high school, enrollment numbers have correspondingly increased as well.
“The big issue is that there’s a bubble coming along in the middle schools, so for three or four years there’s a larger group of students coming in,” said principal Patricia Kurtz.
In addition to the birth bubble, Aragon’s rank, coupled with the recently increased transfer cap, has also contributed to the large class size. In 2016, Aragon placed 124th in Newsweek’s top 500 national public schools, and 62nd statewide in US News.
“The district has allowed a larger amount of transfer students at Aragon,” band director Troy Davis said. “For a while they were capping that number much smaller, and it has increased dramatically … The district has agreed to open up [the transfer cap] because they have more funding to support that.”
Conversely, the increased number of students also indicates more family donations to the Aragon Excellence Fund, which then goes back to support even more academic programs for Aragon students.
“We have a large robust science and math program, and we probably wouldn’t be able to do that just with what we get from the district,” said Kurtz. “We should be getting more donations with more freshmen, more families. Last year, they definitely collected more money than the year before, around 10 to 20 thousand.”
As of now, the increased numbers haven’t significantly affected overall class size at Aragon. “The district gives us more staffing for increased numbers.” said Berggren.
Many students, such as junior Saul Franco, do not think that they have been affected much by the increase in freshmen class size.
“I’ve noticed how the junior class is smaller than the freshman classes last year and this year,” said Franco, “I wouldn’t say that the increase has affected me as a student, but I do believe that elective classes may be affected.”
“It brings in more ideas and experiences that could improve our community … Overall, they haven’t really affected me,” added sophomore Kelsey Araghi.
Even so, Aragon will continue to have the capacity for all existing classes. “We had to add sections for Biology last year, and now as the 2020 class rolls into sophomore year, we had to add new Chemistry classes, and maintain the same number of Biology classes for this year’s incoming ninth grade … we are full, and it shows,” Berggren concluded. “But, we are still able to offer all the same classes that we offered last year and that’s the good sign. And I expect that to continue to happen [in] the next few years”.
