One of the community myths that resurface each year as we prepare for our magnet program recruitment season is that IB students aren't able to enjoy student life. That they have so much homework, they don't have time to be in clubs or play sports or continue in the activities they love. For the record, IB students make up the majority of our campus clubs and hold most of the leadership positions within them, IB students are on every single sports team we have here, both guys and girls, AND they still participate in community organizations and associations. (Some of them even hold jobs, too.) The reason they can do this is because they have learned or are learning to balance what they must do and what they want to do.
It's not easy. But it can be done. The IB recognizes the academic challenges that are presented to students in the program, but emphasizes the need for growth, development, and experience in things that are outside the textbook and the classroom. It's all about balance.
Balance is both a noun and a verb. It's both "an even distribution of weight enabling someone or something to remain upright and steady", and it's "to keep or put something in a steady position so that it does not fall". We need balance. Students, parents, teachers, community stakeholders, people. We all need balance or else we won't remain upright and steady. And the Vanguard IB Family is here to keep us all in a steady position so we do not fall.
We encourage you to participate in service and special interest clubs to give you a chance to do something for your community and for yourself. We want you to play on our teams, to represent the Knights and to take us those championships! We hope you continue dancing and playing in the symphony and singing and drawing and reading and volunteering and auditioning for plays and spending time with the pets that are up for adoption and all the other things you do or wish you could. Because those things balance out the academic experiences this program provides you.
And if you're having trouble making it all happen without tipping the scales, talk to someone who seems to have figured it out and see how they make it work. Talk to an IB senior. It may have taken four years, but most of them understand the importance of balance. Talk to an IB graduate. They're seeing how making it a priority in high school is benefiting them in university and beyond. The secret? Keep going. Keep doing. Keep on keeping on.
Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
College Connection: IB students are active participants in a wide range of aspects of campus life, as well as focusing on their academic development.
www.ibo.org
