This year Aspen High School I.B. students will have a new coordinator, Eileen Knapp, who has stepped into the position after Tamera Wilson’s, the former coordinator, departure.
Knapp has been a math teacher at Aspen High School since 2011 and has been involved with the I.B program since 2014 working as an I.B. math teacher. Upon her arrival at the Aspen School District, Knapp was inexperienced with the I.B. program.
“Before coming to Aspen High School, I was not familiar with the I.B. program, but when I got here I was flooded with information and new learning about how I.B. is worldwide, and how it thinks beyond just the academics of a course,” Knapp said.
Knapp wasn’t sure about becoming the I.B coordinator at first as she is more experienced with working in the classroom.
“When the position opened up… it didn’t dawn on me that I would do well in this position until other people said ‘I think that would be a really good fit for you.’ I think it was the third person that said something to me is when I started to take it more seriously. I think for my whole career I always thought that I would be with students in the classroom… so I think I also had to believe in myself that I could do this and have a slight change in job roles,” Knapp said.
As far as any changes Knapp is planning on making, she would like to continue the previous goal of I.B. for all. She wants to initiate an I.B. Student Fair around February to get students’ voices heard about what I.B. classes were their favorites.
“Something similar to what we do for clubs fair with allowing students to show off their hard work at booths is what I want to do for I.B. classes this year, TOK, for CAS, and for the EE. I hope it will result in more awareness around it and for students to realize ‘hey I can do that’ and that it’s not something that’s coveted or something you can’t learn about until junior year,”Knapp said.
Knapp views her work as the I.B. Coordinator as a chance to grow.
“There’s so much that I don’t know, but there’s also so much that I learn every day,” Knapp said.