IB program a lesson in hard work, new opportunities
Olivia Andrus (rear right) and other team members work on the metal support system for a wall they were building behind a school in Kuraburi, Thailand, during a humanitarian aid trip in June 2014.
So I did it! I successfully completed the International Baccalaureate program at Ogden High. It’s been a long road of hard work, dedication and accomplishment, and (at the risk of sounding too sentimental) I have honestly learned much more from taking the program than I ever imagined I would.
The mission of the International Baccalaureate, or IB, organization is to create not only an international mindset, but also students who are well-rounded and aware of their surroundings. This program helped me accomplish all of these things and more through multiple essays, papers, tests, projects, service hours and endless hours of studying.
But beyond the obvious “college-preparedness” lessons, I have also learned to look at the world as a different place. Here are 10 things IB has taught me:
1. That organization is everything. Really. This is huge. There might have been some point in my life where I felt comfortable going to sleep at night without planning out every hour of the next day, but if there was I can’t remember it. I will admit that there may have times I went a little overboard (I once planned out every day of the last three months of school on a gigantic calendar that I made four months in advance), but I discovered that I am a person who enjoys being busy. I would not have made it through the school year without my trusty planner and homework notifications to remind me of what needed to get done.
2. How to study and prepare for college. OK, even though this is obvious, it’s still important. No longer am I afraid of the potential professor who demands a 15-page paper to be due in a week, because I know how to accomplish it. I also learned how to truly study, beyond the whole review-your-notes-a-couple-times-before-the-test method. Sometimes studying required extra research. Sometimes it meant completely re-teaching myself a certain concept. And yes, sometimes I went a little overboard, as in making a 20-page review packet that required me to reread my entire biology book in a week. But I have never felt more prepared for a test in my life.
3. What hard work feels like. I began IB in a halfhearted manner, performing well but not really to the best of my ability. About halfway through my junior year, just when things got challenging, I realized that the IB diploma was the only thing I wanted out of my life at that moment. So I made a goal that I was going to earn it, and the times that I felt like I couldn’t do any better and had exhausted myself, became the times that I pushed myself the hardest and achieved the most. Never have I felt so accomplished as the day I found out that I received the diploma.
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4. What it means to have good friends. I know what you’re thinking: What does having good friends have to do with earning the diploma? The answer is: everything! I learned it is critical to choose good friends, because doing so means you will succeed in every aspect of your life. I needed people who were as dedicated to the program as I was, who could challenge me intellectually and who, above all, could support me until the end. And that’s not to mention all the new friends I ended up meeting in the program. I never could have imagined how close we would all grow by the end of the two years, and I wouldn’t change it for anything.
5. What I want in life. Knowledge. I just want to learn. I want to be surrounded by creative people who do things. I want to come up with solutions. I want my mind to grow intellectually. I want to walk into a room knowing that every other person in there has something to teach me, and I want to hear what they have to say. The world is a huge place, and it is astounding how much others know that I don’t. I want to make every effort I can to learn from them.
Courtesy photo
Riding an elephant was a new experience for Olivia Andrus (back left) on her humanitarian trip to Kuraburi, Thailand, in June 2014.
6. What I want to do with my life. Through IB, I learned about an organization called Youthlinc, which hosts hundreds of teenagers a year on humanitarian trips around the world. Last summer, I traveled to Thailand with Youthlinc, where I was able to share some of my culture and experiences, but most importantly, where I was able to learn the culture of the Thai people. I experienced firsthand what makes their lives colorful, and I observed what life is like outside of my relatively small Ogden community. I discovered that this is what I love, meeting new people and experiencing their way of life, which explains my decision to major in anthropology in college.
7. That you should always try. There’s a famous quote that goes something like, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take,” which I take to mean, “You have nothing to lose if you simply try.” Does that mean you’ll never fail? Absolutely not. Plenty of times throughout the program I failed miserably on important tests, essays and assignments, but eventually I realized it was not the end of the world. There was always time to improve and work harder. Through trying, I learned my strengths and my weaknesses, and above all, I learned that you should never give up.
8. That I am more talented than I know. Though this may not have always been true, I have discovered that I love the world of academia. I thrive there, because I know exactly what is expected of me and I know exactly how to accomplish challenges that are thrown my way. I discovered other talents too: I have excellent organization skills. Give me any topic and I could bust out a pretty decent essay overnight. I actually can do math — not always the case — and can get more homework done over lunch hour than most people can in an afternoon. Though seemingly pointless on the surface, these talents are valuable because they show me who I am on a deeper level.
9. That I can do hard things. This one is pretty self-explanatory. If you had told my sophomore self that in a year and half’s time, I would be completing a 20-page paper on Coco Chanel, I would have laughed at you and brushed it off. Nobody has time for that, and few want to make the effort to accomplish it. But I did, and never have I been more proud of myself.
10. That the world is a beautiful place. Most importantly, the IB program truly accomplishes what it sets out to do. It creates a well-rounded and internationally-minded student, regardless of whether or not you complete the program or receive the diploma. For me, it opened up opportunities and presented ideas and solutions to problems. Biology showed me how everything connects and how everything works, from different ecosystems down to the very muscles in our body. Math and history are everywhere, from the way we figure out the area of a room to how the Cold War affected our government system today.
English presented a new form of art, creating pictures and feelings through words and good literature. French allowed me to experience another culture from the safety of the classroom and also gave me an international mindset. I cannot examine my surroundings today without seeing and connecting everything I have learned, and without realizing that I have so much more to learn. The IB program sparked my curiosity, and for that I will forever be grateful.
Olivia Andrus is a recent graduate of Ogden High School. She enjoys traveling, playing the piano and king-sized Kit-Kats. Email her at livyandrus@gmail.com.