History teacher Eli Youngthunder teaches Intro to Sociology, AP US History, First Nations, and US History. As he is teaching such subjects, you walk past and hear laughter from the room. While taking a peek into Youngthunders’ room, you see students laughing and learning in an overflowing, positive environment. Eli Youngthunder sits there smiling ear to ear, explaining such subjects while the students take it all in happily.

“I think positivity is a choice. You can dwell on the bad things and be angry about it, or you can wake up, greet the sun, go for a run and it’s beautiful out every day if you choose to, make it a good day,” Youngthunder said.

Lily Sullivan, a former AP student of his and a current student in multiple classes, also sees the overflow of positivity and its impact in his classes.

“I think it’s had a really positive impact. It’s definitely encouraged me to take more AP’s to put myself more out there academically. Just the fun experience that a class that’s hard can also be fun. It doesn’t just have to be a hard experience. It doesn’t just have to be tough and you do it just to get the college credit,” she said.

Within AP classes like Youngthunder’s, it’s so much more than just the knowledge that an individual will learn and gain within his class. It’s also the surrounding environment of positivity and encouragement that the students and teacher have for each other.

“I would recommend AP classes. They’re fun a lot of the time because teachers are having fun in them. Teaching students who are participative and who are engaged in learning. And, you get college credit, so it’s nice. I also feel like our scores are definitely going up, especially in the history department,” said Sullivan.