Each year, teachers and administration at AHS work hard to promote the ‘IB For All’ philosophy to rising Juniors. At the end of the year, sophomores are encouraged to sign up to take IB Diploma or as many IB classes as possible for the following school year. Due to this mentality, a school-wide debate has risen about whether to take IB classes or commit to the full Diploma.

The International Baccalaureate (IB) program is a collection of academically challenging courses that can be taken over one or two years, depending on the class. Students can also opt to take the IB Diploma Program, which requires them to take one IB course from each of the following sectors: Language and Literature, Language Acquisition, Individuals and Societies, Sciences, Mathematics, and The Arts. In addition, diploma candidates must take the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) class, write an Extended Essay (EE), and complete the Creativity, Activity, and Service (CAS) project.

Eileen Knapp, the
“The difference to me is just the bigger challenge of taking all IB classes.Also, that there should be some type of alignment when you take the IB Diploma and what you talk about in TOK you can experience and see in other IB classes,” said Knapp.“You get a bigger support system when you sign up for Diploma. But, taking one IB class is a great experience compared to, you know, not doing it at all. You don’t have to do the whole diploma to get the experience of what IB has to offer.”

Quinn
“I think that if {IB Diploma} is convenient, then do it. But if students want to take IB classes early, they shouldn’t restrict themselves because they want to wait for the Diploma,” said Ramberg.
Sophie Wilcox, a senior at AHS, is an IB Diploma candidate. She is currently working on her Extended Essay and CAS project.

“I am really happy that I did Diploma. I love how all my classes are so different, so I get to learn a lot of interesting stuff from different areas. That being said, students should not just take Diploma for the name. They should only do it if they are really interested in classes that come with it,” said Wilcox.