“What is IB?” I have heard this question more times than I can count. Generally, the expected answer is “IB is a program called International Baccalaureate which students like me take to improve the appearance of our college applications. There is a ton of work and tests because we are graded overall by someone in another part of the world.” However, IB is not just another program – well, not the way I see it. It is a community, a way of thinking, a widened perspective.

Within IB, we are like a family. We know each others’ strengths and weaknesses and support each other. All of us have similar schedules and assessments, so we share a common hardship of stress and pressure. This added connection brings all of us closer together as a community within the school. Although commonality brings unity, each student is seen as a separate individual with unique talents defining us. We have a poet, a football player, musicians, a dancer, swimmers, artists and much more amongst the forty of us, so there is room to be more than just a student in IB. As long as you are willing to put in the extra effort, IB is a rewarding experience. Beyond community, IB teaches you to truly appreciate knowledge because truth is not black and white. If it were, life would be boring because of the lack of individual perspectives. This idea of individualistic knowledge is present in all of our IB classes in different manners from the assessments to the way of teaching. In history, for instance, we analyze the perspectives from multiple textbooks, videos, and original documents.

In short, IB is a different approach to teaching and learning that allows for greater freedom when it comes to thinking and presenting ideas because there is no right or wrong. Every perspective is significant in creating the big picture of the world and IB works toward getting these perspectives together to form a greater understanding.