It is Thursday afternoon, May 12, and I've just finished my final IB exam. All 23 of my classmates and I huddle in front of the fountain outside for a celebratory "We're done!" picture. It's only 11 a.m. but it's already 85° and the Alabama humidity is in full force. I realize that it's truly summer now. For the first time in four years, summer means no more reading multiple books at once, writing essays or working on projects that drain every drop of creativity. But also, for the first time since high school began, the summer will end like our certainty of what the fall will hold.
Flash forward to the beginning: the first week of my freshman year as a pre-IB student was full of unknown territory. I was transferring from a neighboring city for the International Baccalaureate program and so the newness of the transition to high school was twofold. I started out shy and reserved, but what cushioned the angst was the familiarity: because of the program, I had mostly all seven classes with the same peers and teachers throughout the next four years. My teachers knew me by my handwriting, my character and the expectations they had for me that were years in the making. By our senior year my classmates knew more of me than I probably ever wanted them to know or knew of myself (most of them could quote my tagline bio verbatim without looking at it, if I asked them to). I'm amazed that we were able to come this far as a class but also as a family, despite the (more than healthy) competition, academic pressures and sporadic breakdowns, especially during our senior year. In spite of our differences, it's post-graduation and yet we're still talking in the group chat and planning beach days (although not without the almost daily roast sessions).
To IB theatre: thank you for giving me an appreciation for the art of drama. Thanks to you, I can't watch a play or movie without analyzing it. To IB's foreign language requirement: thank you for instilling in me a love I didn't know I had I. Ahora puedo hablar en español (¡mire maestra, no Google!). To IB mathematics: I'll be cheesy and say that you taught me to push through the frustration and tears to reach the end reward of the solution, but calculus still sucks. To IB science: even though I changed my mind about pursuing a career in medicine, your investigative requirements lead me to the realization that I should avoid swimming in the nearby bay because it's probably infested with E. coli. No hard feelings, bio. To IB History of the Americas: thank you for widening my perspective outside the United States with, for instance, the existence of Canadian history (who knew?). To IB Theory of Knowledge: thank you for opening my mind to not only new and different ideas but also to the "why" behind them. To IB English: I can now say that I'm a pro at crunch-time essay writing and finding symbolism in everything because of you.
I know without a doubt that my experience in the IB program during high school paved the way for where I am today. I owe it to the curriculum, my teachers and my classmates for supporting, challenging and inspiring me along the way. Because of you I discovered the exciting ride that comes from letting go of the reins of your future and embracing the unknown.
"IB, therefore I am"
