I think, therefore IB.

Jan 3

The start of my International Baccalaureate (IB) journey goes all the way back to junior high. My schooling followed a neat curriculum called the MYP, or the Middle Years Programme. Now before I get too deep into this blog post, I have to warn you that IB and everything surrounding it is quite the alphabet soup, so there are going to be a lot of acronyms, but just follow along and hopefully it won’t get too confusing.

My middle school wasn’t the most supportive institution, so I wouldn’t consider that the true beginning of my IB journey. The more rigorous courses began my freshmen year (9th grade). As I reflect and look at my journey in hindsight, I find it difficult to find words sufficient enough to describe how grateful I am for every moment I experienced while in the program.

One of the most significant benefits of being in IB at my particular high school is the relationships that the program allows you to form. Because there was only a small group of people completing their IB Diploma, you had classes with the same 20-30 people for all four years. I’m not exaggerating when I say that the relationships I formed with my classmates are ones I’m going to cherish for the rest of my life. I wouldn’t even know where to start if I tried to describe all the insanely late nights we pulled cramming to finish a paper or project. Of course, there were a few rocky relationships between the lot of us, but that’s expected when you force a bunch of teenagers to work together nearly every day for four years straight. Nothing will ever compare to our senior exam season when we all came together on Discord, regardless of any less-than-favorable feelings, to study and crack jokes that made us forget about the daunting exams that came the next day.

The graduation bling was a pretty cool incentive.
I was top of my class!
My rank was #33 & I was top 10%!

Many people have this absurd assumption that because of the huge workload that comes along with IB, you’re unable to have a social life and I just want to clear the air and say that’s absolutely NOT TRUE!! I took non-IB-related classes (on top of my fully loaded IBDP schedule) AND was a part of the film academy at my school.

Fun Fact: They placed me in the academy and by coincidence, my best friend from Pre-K (who was not in IB!) was also in it! That + movies + a teacher w a lot of jokes and sarcastic comments convinced me to stay :).

There is absolutely no way that I would be prepared for college without IB. If there was anything that was going to teach me how to be a college student, time management, and critical thinking, it was IB. We analyzed everything and nothing went untouched. The learning process they program your mind to use is helpful beyond the four walls of the classroom. Especially in today’s day and age.

I would confidently say that my experience with the IB program and my Film Academy class played a major role in starting my business. I came into this industry with some experience and skills that took other years to build. Both of these aspects of high school did me more good than harm.

Despite not getting my IB diploma, (by one point) I wouldn’t discourage anybody from doing this program. Or at least trying it and putting their best foot forward. I knew my strengths and I knew my weakness. Testing during a pandemic after a year online just happens to be my kryptonite. I was prepared for this and set myself up for success in different ways. This just goes to say always have a backup plan! As disappointing as it was for me to not get my diploma, I wouldn’t change my experience for anything.

My Favorite IB Literature Reads:

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui

Small Kindnesses by Danusha Laméris

Gate A-4 by Naomi Shihab Nye

My Favorite IB Philosophy Reads & Topics:

Personhood and Human Nature

Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes

My Favorite IB History Reads & Topics:

The Civil Rights Movement

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

The Youth Movements

Castro & Cuba

My Favorite IB Applications & Interpretations Topics:

Statistics

My Favorite IB Spanish:

Hearing my teachers’ real-life experiences in Mexico and Spain.

My Favorite IB Biology Topics:

Human/Animal Physiology

My Favorite TOK Topics:

All of it? I loved TOK.

My Favorite CAS Project:

I created this group to help other IB students in my cohort to push through the remaining years of the pandemic together. The IB Student Council’s goal is to increase the involvement of students in claiming their education: GPA, college applications, IB curriculum, CAS, culture and character. It will consist of every IB student at my high school . This is a way to allow for more leadership and group bonding opportunities for those who need it as well.

My Extended Essay Topic: