2026-27 Course Catalog
Electives That
Ignite Passion
Every student has something that lights them up. This catalog is how you find it. Choose a Career Elective to build real credentials over three years, or pick a Signature Elective and go deep on a skill you have always wanted to learn. Read through and talk it over at home.
Section One | Career Electives
Section Two | Signature Electives
Career Elective 1:
Pre-Law & Public Affairs
Pre-Law & Public Affairs Elective
Learn to build an argument, defend it under pressure, and change minds. This elective puts you in the courtroom, the campaign, and the debate hall — with college credit along the way.
Debate, Mock Trial & Moot Court
Compete locally and nationally while you sharpen the two skills every profession rewards: thinking clearly and speaking persuasively.
Criminal Justice I–III
Go inside American law enforcement, the court system, and constitutional rights — and examine how crime and justice shape a community.
Dual Enrollment: Criminal Evidence & Criminal Justice
Earn college credit through Miami Dade College while studying courtroom procedure, rules of evidence, and how the legal system actually works.
Comprehensive Law Honors
Trace the foundations of American law — contracts, torts, rights, and responsibilities — and see how legal thinking shapes everyday life.
Court Procedures
Walk through every stage of a trial, from filing to verdict, building persuasive speaking and airtight legal reasoning as you go.
Executive Internship III
Master appellate advocacy through original research, brief writing, and simulated oral arguments before a panel.
Where it leads: law, government, public policy, advocacy, journalism, business leadership.
Career Elective 2:
Pre-Med & Medical Sciences
Pre-Med & Medical Sciences Elective
Hands-on, high-intensity preparation for future physicians, health professionals, and first responders. You will not just study the body — you will train on it, chart it, and learn to act when seconds count.
Core Courses
Build your foundation in biology, anatomy, and health science, then apply for the selective Allied Health Science track.
Health Sciences: Sports Medicine & Exercise Science
Study injury prevention, body mechanics, and rehabilitation through Exercise Science I–III and EKG Technician, plus dual-enrollment Sports Medicine with university mentors.
Emergency Medicine
Train for the real thing with Emergency Medical Responder, EKG, 911 Dispatch, and Firefighting I & II — the courses that teach you to stay calm and take charge.
Recommended Advanced Courses
Dual Enrollment Anatomy & Physiology, AP Biology, AP Chemistry, AP Psychology, AP Statistics, and AP or DE English.
Certifications Available
CPR/AED, First Aid, Certified Medical Administrative Assistant (CMAA), four FEMA certificates, and Water Safety Awareness – real credentials on your application.
Where it leads: medicine, nursing, physical therapy, EMS and firefighting, public health, research.
Career Elective 3:
Engineering & Computer Science
Engineering & Computer Science Elective
Innovate, build, and code your way into the future. From artificial intelligence to competition robotics to licensed drone flight, this elective is for students who would rather make the technology than just use it.
Core Courses
Learn programming, data systems, and emerging technology through Digital Information Technology, AP Computer Science, and Introduction to Artificial Intelligence.
Specialized Electives
Go deeper with Robotics: Applications & Careers and Drones: Remote Pilot — design work you can hold in your hands and fly over your head.
Clubs & Competitions
Join LJA's award-winning VEX Robotics Team and take on engineering challenges against schools across the region and country.
Industry Certifications
FAA Remote Pilot Certificate, Part 107 (students must be 16+ to be certificated), RECF Robotics & Pre-Engineering Certification, Oracle Java SE 8 OCA, and Information Technology Specialist in Java.
Where it leads: software engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering, AI, aerospace, cybersecurity.
Career Elective 4:
Entrepreneurship & VEI
Entrepreneurship & VEI Elective
Build a brand, launch a business, and spend the year running an actual company. This elective is built around Virtual Enterprises International: your class becomes the firm, and you take a job inside it.
Core Courses
Introduction to Business, Business Ownership, Marketing, and Business Applications — the accounting, management, and communication fundamentals you need before you take a seat in the firm.
Specialized Electives
Virtual Enterprises International, where the classroom becomes a student-run company inside a global network of 7,000+ firms across 40+ countries. You staff Administration, Accounting, Finance, Sales, Marketing, HR, and IT, write and implement a real business plan, and trade with student firms worldwide.
Clubs & Programs
Compete in DECA and BPA, and take your VEI firm to local, regional, and national competitions and trade show exhibitions.
Industry Certifications
Entrepreneurship & Small Business (ESB), Microsoft Office Specialist, Project Management Ready (PMI), Meta Digital Marketing, and Intuit Personal Finance.
Experiential Learning
Pitch, present, and network at the Youth Business Summit in New York City.
Where it leads: entrepreneurship, finance, consulting, real estate, marketing, nonprofit leadership.
Career Elective 5:
Film, TV Production & Journalism
Film, TV Production & Journalism Elective
Tell stories that people cannot look away from. You will learn the camera, the edit, and the interview — and graduate with a portfolio that proves you can do all three.
Program Overview
Train in digital video production from the ground up: shooting, lighting, sound, editing, and story structure. Complete client-style projects and prepare for Adobe Certified Professional certification in Premiere Pro.
Landow Live
LJA's own student broadcast. Produce and anchor Landow Live — school news, event coverage, interviews, and livestreamed programming, on a real production schedule with real deadlines.
Competitions
Compete in the Student Television Network Challenge, FSPA Digital Contests, and Fall Frenzy — fast deadlines, real judges, real feedback.
Industry Connections
Learn directly from working producers, editors, and journalists through guest lectures, workshops, and portfolio critiques.
Experiential Learning
Get behind the scenes at news stations, universities, and production studios to see how professional media actually gets made.
Capstone Experience
Over three years, build a standout digital portfolio of original films, broadcasts, and multimedia work that shows your creative voice and technical range.
Where it leads: film and television production, journalism, content creation, communications, advertising.
Career Elective 6:
Marketing & Photography
Marketing & Photography Elective
Build the brand and shoot the images that carry it. This elective pairs marketing strategy with the camera work to execute it: you will learn how attention actually gets earned, then produce the photography and content that earns it — for real school events, real clients, and a portfolio that proves you can do both halves of the job.
Marketing Core
Marketing strategy, social media management, and brand development through Marketing Essentials, Social Media Business Marketing, and Business Ownership — working with the same platforms and tools the professionals use, including Meta's.
Photography
Camera fundamentals — exposure, aperture, shutter, ISO — plus composition, natural and studio lighting, and portrait, product, and event shooting. Edit and retouch in Lightroom and Photoshop.
Competitions & Clubs
Compete in DECA, BPA, and Virtual Enterprises International, where students launch and manage virtual businesses in a global marketplace.
Industry Connections
Learn from marketing professionals and working photographers through guest speakers, live client projects, and portfolio critique.
Experiential Learning
Shoot and run campaigns for real LJA events and programs, and travel to the Youth Business Summit at NYC's Javits Center.
Certifications
Meta Certified Digital Marketing Associate, Entrepreneurship & Small Business (ESB), Intuit Personal Finance, Microsoft Office Specialist, and Project Management Ready (PMI), plus preparation for Adobe Certified Professional in Photoshop.
Where it leads: brand marketing, commercial and event photography, social media management, public relations, e-commerce, creative direction.
Section Two
Signature Electives
Eighteen electives. Eighteen completely different ways to discover what you are good at. Some build a trade you could earn a living from. Some build strength, discipline, and leadership. Some go deeper into Torah than any required class can. Every one runs a full year, and none of them require prior experience.
All Signature Electives are open to every LJA student – no experience needed.
Signature Elective:
Art
About This Elective
A blank page is the most intimidating thing in the world — until you know what to do with it. In Art you will work with real materials and learn the craft behind them: drawing what you actually see, mixing color that actually works, and building compositions that hold a viewer's eye. You will study the artists who changed how the world sees, and finish the year with a portfolio that shows how you see.
What You'll Do
Draw, paint, sculpt, and design across charcoal, acrylic, clay, printmaking, and digital illustration — plus color theory, perspective, light, and composition.
Skills You'll Build
Close observation, patience with a hard problem, original thinking, and the nerve to put your work in front of other people.
Showcase Your Work
Exhibit in the LJA student art show and contribute to murals, yearbook and publication design, and artwork for school events.
Where it leads: graphic design, architecture, animation, illustration, interior design, art therapy, advertising.
Signature Elective:
Music Engineering
About This Elective
Anyone can hit record. Making something that actually sounds good is a craft, and this is where you learn it. You will mic a room, track real instruments and vocals, and then do the part most people never learn — the mix: balancing, EQ, compression, effects, and the dozens of small decisions that separate a demo from a record. By the end you will have finished songs you engineered from the first take to the final master.
What You'll Do
Signal flow and studio setup, microphone selection and placement, multitrack recording, editing and comping, mixing, and mastering to a finished release.
The Tools
Work in a professional digital audio workstation with real interfaces, monitors, microphones, and MIDI controllers — plus synthesis and beat production.
Live Sound
Run sound for school events and performances: setting up a PA, ringing out a room, and mixing a live band without a second take to save you.
Your Portfolio
Finish and release a body of engineered work — your own productions and sessions you engineered for other students.
Where it leads: audio engineering, music production, film and podcast sound, live sound and touring, music business.
Signature Elective:
Theater & Performing Arts
About This Elective
Standing in front of people and holding their attention is the most transferable skill there is. In Theater you will build it properly: voice, movement, script analysis, and the discipline of rehearsing something until it is genuinely good. You will also learn the half of theater the audience never sees — sets, lights, sound, and stage management — and then put a real production in front of a real audience.
On Stage
Acting technique, voice and diction, movement and stage presence, improvisation, character work, and script analysis.
Behind It
Set construction and design, lighting and sound, props, costumes, and stage management — the crew roles that make a show possible.
Production
Mount a full production from first read-through to closing night, including rehearsal discipline, blocking, cues, and performing under pressure.
What You'll Take With You
Public speaking without fear, collaboration when it is hard, memory and focus, and the confidence that comes from having done it live.
Where it leads: theater and film, arts administration, education, law and advocacy, sales and public speaking — and any room you ever have to command.
Signature Elective:
Robotics & Drones
About This Elective
Design a robot, write the code that drives it, then send it head-to-head in competition. You will build on VEX V5 — the same competition-grade system used from ninth grade through college — then take that engineering airborne on VEX AIR drones, flying real missions with live camera feeds and code you wrote yourself. You will also run a VEX CTE Workcell: a working factory cell with a 6-axis robotic arm, conveyors, pneumatics, and sensors.
VEX V5 Robotics – Build & Code
Design, build, and program competition robots with the VEX V5 system, writing autonomous routines in VEXcode Blocks or Python and iterating on a real mechanical design until it wins.
Competitions
Compete in the VEX V5 Robotics Competition, which introduces a brand-new game every season, plus the VEX AI Robotics Competition and the VEX AIR Drone Competition — with a path to the VEX Robotics World Championship.
VEX AIR Drones – Fly & Program
Fly indoor VEX AIR drones with dual cameras, obstacle detection, AprilTag navigation, and hot-swappable mission modules for picking up, carrying, and dropping objects. Train in the flight simulator, then run live and fully autonomous flights.
VEX CTE Workcell – Industrial Automation
Program a 6-axis arm with conveyors, pneumatics, and sensors through two sequenced courses — Introduction to the 6-Axis Arm and Workcell Automation — covering coordinate planes, sorting, palletizing, and material flow.
Certifications
RECF Robotics & Pre-Engineering Certification, plus preparation for the FAA Remote Pilot Certificate, Part 107, for students who are 16 or older. Shares the certification track with the Engineering & Computer Science elective.
Where it leads: mechanical and electrical engineering, computer science, robotics and automation, aerospace, industrial technology, surveying and aerial imaging.
Signature Elective:
Artificial Intelligence
About This Elective
Everyone uses AI now. Almost nobody understands it. This elective takes you under the hood: how a model actually learns, why it gets things confidently wrong, and what it genuinely cannot do. You will train your own models on your own data, build working tools with them, and learn to write prompts the way an engineer does. You will also think hard about the questions that come with the technology — because you are the generation who will have to answer them.
What You'll Do
How machine learning works, training and testing your own classifiers, working with language and image models, and building real applications on top of them.
Prompt & Systems Design
Structured prompting, giving models tools and context, evaluating output quality, and recognising when a model is fabricating.
Ethics & Judgment
Bias in training data, privacy, academic honesty, and the halachic and ethical questions of building technology that imitates human thought.
Build Something Real
Ship a working AI tool that solves a problem you actually have — and be able to explain exactly how it works.
Where it leads: computer science, data science, machine learning engineering, product design, research — and fluency in the defining technology of your career.
Signature Elective:
Automotive Technology
About This Elective
Some things you can only learn with your hands. In Auto you will work on real engines and real vehicles – diagnosing what is wrong, taking it apart, and putting it back together correctly. You will learn how brakes, electrical systems, and combustion engines actually work, use the same diagnostic scanners the shops use, and walk away with something genuinely useful for the rest of your life: you will never be at anyone's mercy about your own car again.
What You'll Do
Engine fundamentals, brake and suspension service, electrical and battery systems, fluid and oil service, tires and alignment, and computerized diagnostics.
Shop Skills
Read a service manual, work a lift safely, use professional tools and scan tools, and document a repair the way a shop would.
Skills for Life
Change a tire, jump a battery, decode a dashboard warning light, keep up with maintenance – and recognize a repair you do not actually need.
Where it leads: automotive and diesel technology, aviation mechanics, mechanical engineering, motorsports, shop ownership.
Signature Elective:
Culinary Arts
About This Elective
There is a reason chefs move the way they do — every motion was taught. In Culinary you will learn the real thing: knife work that is fast and safe, how flavor is actually built, how baking chemistry behaves, and how to plate a dish that looks as good as it tastes. Then you will do it under time pressure, for real guests. Every dish is prepared under the school's kashrus supervision, so the professional standards and the halachic ones are learned as one and the same.
What You'll Do
Knife skills and cuts, stocks and sauces, proteins, baking and pastry, plating and presentation, menu planning, and food costing.
Real Service Experience
Cater school events, run themed tasting nights, and compete in team cooking challenges where the clock is the hardest ingredient.
Kitchen Standards
Sanitation, safe food handling, allergen awareness, and how to run a station and lead a line. Optional ServSafe Food Handler credential.
Where it leads: culinary arts, hospitality and restaurant management, catering, food entrepreneurship, nutrition, food media.
Signature Elective:
Nail Technology
About This Elective
The Nail Specialty Program is designed to give you the skills and techniques needed to become a licensed Nail Specialist in the State of Florida. Nail technicians – manicurists and pedicurists – provide professional nail care in salons, spas, resorts, and their own businesses. The program pairs classroom theory with hands-on practice so you finish ready to enter the beauty industry as a working professional.
What You'll Study
Florida cosmetology laws and rules, nail care chemistry, bacteriology, and the anatomy and physiology behind healthy nails and skin.
Technical Skills
Manicures, pedicures, nail enhancements, and the full range of services essential to the nail specialty profession – built through supervised, hands-on practice.
Professional Skills
Communication, leadership, human relations, and employability skills, plus safe and efficient work practices, sanitation, and client safety.
Licensure Pathway
On successful completion of the program, students can work toward licensure with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. No state board exam is required.
Where it leads: licensed Florida Nail Specialist, salon and spa work, salon ownership, esthetics and cosmetology, beauty-brand entrepreneurship.
Signature Elective:
Early Childcare Education
About This Elective
Working with young children is a profession with real training behind it, and this is the beginning of it. You will study how children actually develop — physically, verbally, socially, emotionally — and learn to build a classroom that supports that development rather than fighting it. You will observe, plan activities, and practise in real early-childhood settings, working toward the nationally recognised Child Development Associate credential.
What You'll Study
Child development from infancy through preschool, learning environments, positive guidance and behaviour, observation and assessment, and family partnership.
Health, Safety & Standards
Safe and healthy learning environments, nutrition, supervision, and the professional and ethical standards of early childhood educators.
Hands-On Practice
Plan and lead age-appropriate activities, and complete supervised hours in an early-childhood classroom.
Credential Track
Coursework builds toward the Child Development Associate (CDA) credential; the CDA itself is awarded after the required experience hours and a high school diploma.
Signature Elective:
Basketball
About This Elective
This is not pickup ball. This is real training — footwork, ball handling, shooting mechanics rebuilt from the ground up, defensive positioning, and learning to read a play two seconds before it happens. You will condition like an athlete, run structured practices, watch film of your own game, and compete. And you will learn the harder thing: how five individuals become a team.
What You'll Do
Skill-development drills, strength and agility conditioning, offensive and defensive systems, film review, and live scrimmage play.
Compete
Represent Landow Jewish Academy against other schools and in tournament play.
Beyond the Game
Sportsmanship, accountability, communication, composure when you are behind, and leading by example whether or not you are the one scoring.
Where it leads: coaching, athletic training, sports medicine, sports management – and a game you can play your whole life.
Signature Elective:
Team Sports
About This Elective
One season, several sports, and a real education in what it takes to win as a group. You will rotate through soccer, volleyball, flag football, and more – learning the rules properly, the positions, the conditioning, and the tactics of each. If you have never been the athletic one, this is the place to find out that you can be. If you already are, this is where you learn to make everyone around you better.
What You'll Play
Rotating units in soccer, volleyball, flag football, and additional sports chosen by the group — rules, positions, technique, and game strategy for each.
Conditioning
General athletic development: speed, agility, endurance, and coordination that carries across every sport you play.
Compete
Intramural league play within LJA plus interscholastic games representing the school.
What You'll Take With You
Reading a game as it unfolds, communicating under pressure, losing well, winning graciously, and being the teammate everyone wants on the roster.
Where it leads: coaching, athletic training, physical education, recreation management – and a lifetime of staying active.
Signature Elective:
Weight Training
About This Elective
Most people who lift weights never learn how. You will. This elective teaches proper form on the core lifts, how to build a program that matches your own goals, and how the body actually responds to training, rest, and food. You will log your lift and performance numbers from day one and watch them move – the most satisfying data set you will ever own. No weigh-ins, no body-composition targets: the only thing we measure is what you can do.
What You'll Do
Squat, hinge, press, and pull mechanics; free weights and machines; mobility and injury prevention; and mixed conditioning work.
Your Own Program
Build a personal training plan, set measurable performance goals, and keep a training log so progress becomes something you can actually see.
Fuel & Recovery
Practical nutrition, hydration, and sleep – plus how to tell real training advice from the noise online.
Signature Elective:
IDF Training
About This Elective
Modeled on the training that shapes Israel's soldiers, this elective is built to shape the person. You will push through structured physical conditioning, learn navigation, first aid, and teamwork under pressure, and take your turn carrying responsibility for the people beside you. Expect tasks that are genuinely hard, and a level of grit you did not know you had. To be clear about what this is: a fitness, leadership, and Israel education course built on IDF training values — not enlistment, and no weapons of any kind.
What You'll Do
Progressive physical conditioning, endurance and obstacle challenges, map and compass navigation, first aid and emergency response, and team missions no individual can finish alone.
Leadership Under Pressure
Rotate through leadership roles, learn to give a clear instruction and to follow one, and lead a tired team to the end of a hard task.
Connection to Eretz Yisrael
Study the history of Israel's defense, hear from veterans and chayalim, and build a personal, lasting bond with the land and its people.
What You'll Carry Out
Discipline, resilience, humility, and achdus — the understanding that the unit only succeeds together.
A leadership, fitness, and Israel education program inspired by IDF training values. Not military enlistment and no weapons training.
Signature Elective:
College Prep
About This Elective
From SATs to acceptance letters, College Prep gives students the strategy, confidence, and tools to turn college dreams into a clear plan. This elective takes the SAT, the ACT, the AP exams, and the PERT apart — the question types, the traps, the timing — and rebuilds them as something you know how to beat. It is the single highest-leverage class on this list for college admission and scholarship money.
What You'll Do
Targeted work on reading comprehension, grammar and writing, algebra, geometry, data analysis, and the ACT science section — plus the essay, for students who need it.
Advanced Placement (AP)
Focused preparation for the AP exams you are sitting — free-response practice, scoring rubrics, and full timed sections — so your AP courses convert into real college credit.
Test Strategy
Pacing and time management, educated guessing and elimination, calculator strategy, question-order tactics, and how to stay steady when a section goes badly.
Practice & Progress
Every practice test is scored and reviewed question by question, with a personal score report that shows exactly where your next ten points are.
PERT & Dual Enrollment
PERT preparation for students pursuing dual enrollment — the placement scores that unlock college credit.
Signature Elective:
Personal Finance
About This Elective
Almost nobody is taught this, and almost everybody wishes they had been. This elective covers the money decisions you will actually face: your first paycheck and what disappears from it, how credit scores are built and destroyed, what compound interest does over forty years, how insurance works, and why most people carry debt they never needed. You will build a real budget for a real life and understand exactly where your money goes.
What You'll Learn
Budgeting and saving, banking and checking accounts, credit cards and credit scores, loans and interest, and the true cost of borrowing.
Earning & Taxes
Reading a pay stub, W-4s and W-2s, filing a basic return, payroll versus self-employment, and what your employer actually costs.
Investing Basics
How compound growth works, the difference between saving and investing, index funds, retirement accounts, risk and time horizon — concepts, not stock tips.
Real Decisions
Renting versus buying, car costs beyond the sticker price, insurance, emergency funds, and paying for college without wrecking your twenties.
Where it leads: every financial decision you will ever make – plus finance, accounting, real estate, and entrepreneurship.
Signature Elective:
Talmud
About This Elective
The goal of this elective is independence: to put you in front of a blatt Gemara and have you able to open it, work through it, and understand what is actually being argued — without someone translating for you. You will build the vocabulary and the Aramaic, learn to follow the shakla v'tarya, and work through Rashi and Tosfos as the conversation partners they are. Learning is done b'chavrusa, out loud, the way it has always been done.
Skills You'll Build
Aramaic vocabulary and terminology, the structure of a sugya, following a shakla v'tarya, and reading Rashi and Tosfos independently.
B'iyun & B'kius
In-depth analysis of selected sugyos alongside broader b'kius learning to build fluency and cover ground.
Chavrusa Learning
Learn in chavrusa with guided oversight, developing the ability to argue a position, hear a challenge, and refine your understanding out loud.
Where It Goes
Preparation for serious yeshiva learning and the confidence to open a sefer on your own for the rest of your life.
A limudei kodesh elective that goes beyond the core requirement; it does not replace it.
Signature Elective:
Chassidus
About This Elective
Chassidus asks the questions the rest of the curriculum assumes you have already settled: what a soul is, what Hashem wants from a person, why the world exists at all. This elective takes those questions seriously — learning Tanya and maamarim in the original, working through the concepts slowly, and then asking the harder question of what any of it means for how you actually live on a Tuesday afternoon.
What You'll Learn
Tanya, selected maamarim, and sichos — the core concepts of Chassidus Chabad learned in the original text.
Core Ideas
The nature of the neshama, ahavas and yiras Hashem, bittul, simcha, and the Chassidic understanding of why a person is here.
Avodah in Practice
Hisbonenus and meaningful davening, applying Chassidus to middos and everyday decisions, and learning in a farbrengen setting.
What You'll Take With You
A framework for the questions that matter most, and a relationship with learning that is personal rather than assigned.
Signature Elective:
Hebrew
About This Elective
You can already daven in Hebrew. This is about being able to order coffee in Tel Aviv, argue with a cousin in Yerushalayim, and read an Israeli newspaper without a dictionary. Modern Hebrew is taught here as a living, spoken language — conversation from day one, real grammar underneath it, and the vocabulary of ordinary Israeli life. It is the difference between visiting Eretz Yisrael and belonging there.
What You'll Do
Conversational Ivrit, listening comprehension, reading and writing, verb structures and binyanim, and building vocabulary you will actually use.
Real Hebrew
Israeli music, news, film, and slang — the Hebrew people speak, not just the Hebrew in a textbook.
Connection
Correspond with Israeli students, and prepare to travel, learn, or spend a year in Israel able to hold your own in the language.
Every Level Welcome
Placement by ability, from students building their first sentences to students ready for fluent discussion.
Where it leads: fluency for travel, yeshiva and seminary study, or a year in Israel — plus college language credit and a lifelong bond with the land and its people.
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