In the last couple of months, Heights High School’s Counselors Anne Nelson and Dr. Janet Orefield hosted several International Baccalaureate (IB) interest meetings. They provided students with the tremendous opportunity to enroll in Heights’s coveted IB Program. IB is a comprehensive program that sculpts students’ future interests and hones their career prospects. Heights has strived to offer an academically progressive and internationally focused curriculum for its pupils for the last five years.

At one of the meetings, on February 10th, the Teaching Theater was packed to the brim with a sea of sophomores, ready to examine the core principles of the IB Diploma and IB Career programs. A handful of upperclassmen graced the event with duly stirring and uplifting tales of IB glory that they had carved for themselves. “The community makes IB a holistically principled program; the support, teamwork, and mutually–accommodating atmosphere that IB offers is truly unique,” remarked one upperclassman when questioned about the essential framework underpinning the IB program: community.
The meeting directors were precise and conscientious in describing the give-and-take relationship centered around trust and integrity. The program’s academic, social, and cultural nature ensures the well-rounded status of a pupil pursuing IB.

Careful consideration, thus, was given to the elephant in the room–Advanced Placement (AP), IB, a magnet, or career pathway? IB’s heavy focus on community is unappareled when laid in contrast to other tracks. IB would be a sophomore’s go-to if seeking fellowship with one’s classmen and nurturing an enviable academic record. However, if you are all for a good taste of the tough competition, AP would better suit your high school roadmap.

In all, many sophomores were elated at the prospect of an IB pathway for their high school career. They believe it will refine their interests, strengthen their college resume, and develop their critical thinking. After all, pillars of trust, integrity, personal expression coupled with hues of uniqueness and doability position IB at the coveted forefront of education.