IB program provides tough courses for tough students

Green Valley High School split-end Jeorse Lund's head hurt last week, but not from a bone-crushing tackle on the football field.

The end of May marks the end of testing season for the International Baccalaureate program, the toughest academic course of study offered to the brainiest students in Clark County.

"I just got done with the hardest test I've ever taken in my life," Lund said with relief, moments after polishing off one of his last tests.

Lund is one of just 16 seniors who this year survived the International Baccalaureate program, offered at two high schools, Green Valley and Valley.

"If a kid wants to get a leg up, this is it," Lund said. "It's the hardest curriculum you can take in the Clark County School District, but it's well worth it."

Green Valley has offered International Baccalaureate to its students for seven years. At Valley, the 19-year-old program became a "magnet" program three years ago and now draws about 190 top students from all over Clark County.

"We don't look at it as being difficult, we see it as a challenge," said Valley freshman Zuri Langhorn, who wakes up at 5:50 a.m. every day for an hourlong bus ride to Valley. "It requires more motivation than knowledge. You just need the will to learn."

Curriculum for the International Baccalaureate program was designed in Switzerland in 1962. Now it's offered at 718 schools in 94 countries and touted as arguably the most rigorous high school curriculum in the world.

Wooster High in Reno is the only other Nevada school that offers the program.

International Baccalaureate demands students complete high-level course work in six areas, a 4,000-word essay and 150 hours of school and community service. Students must perform well on six examinations to earn the program's diploma.

Students also must take a class called Theory of Knowledge. TOK, as students call it, delves into ethics and politics and forces students to think analytically and philosophically.

"We've learned that we never know anything for sure," Valley junior Zach Pogue said. "There are so many variables out there."

Students officially enroll in the International Baccalaureate program as juniors and seniors. But freshman and sophomores who plan to enroll in IB take high-level classes to prepare.

Students said they understand before the program starts that they are in for a long four years. Some admit they occasionally question whether they have what it takes to finish.

"You always see that easy way out, and you think about it," Valley freshman Byron Evans said. "But you've made your decision. You're committed to IB."

Enrollment figures show that a number of students drop out of the program, however.

At Green Valley, 58 freshman, 50 sophomores, 25 juniors and 14 seniors are enrolled this year in IB.

Students drop for a variety of reasons, advisers said. Sometimes, students are forced to choose between demanding extra-curricular activities, such as band, and IB. Many students take certain high school-required courses such as health, by correspondence, to free up their schedules for classes such as calculus.

Sometimes, students simply decide the course work is too much, Green Valley IB coordinator Jacquelyn Moore said.

"We have counseled some out of the program," Moore said. "Sometimes things happen in kids lives."

Teachers also said they sometimes wonder if the program is too much pressure for teens, admitting that they back off when they sense students are overwhelmed. But students generally relish the challenges of problem-solving, teachers said.

"Sometimes I just say, 'There's your equipment, here's your problem, you figure it out,'" IB chemistry teacher Thelma Johannsson said.

Johannsson said she sometimes is floored when students ask her questions she can't answer -- and then go find the answers themselves.

"I sit back and think, 'Wow!'" she said.

Freshman IB English teacher Sharon Beatty said her students are often initially overwhelmed but quickly learn to budget their time.

"They feel a lot of pressure," Beatty said. "But it really is fun. They bond because of it."

The program pays off in prestigious college admissions and scholarship packages to schools in California or the Ivy League, IB advisers said.

Eighteen-year-old Placida Martinez graduated from Valley High last year with an IB diploma, which earned her 12 college credits for her first year at UNLV.

"My first year of college, a lot of students were saying, 'Oh, my God, it's so much work," Martinez, who is pursuing a career in biomedical engineering, said. "To me, it seemed like less work than my senior year in IB."

Current IB students said that's one of the main reasons they put themselves through IB. They also are keenly aware that an IB diploma can help pave the way to the college of their choice.

"It adds something else to make you different," said Lund, who plans to try out for the Duke University football team this fall. "It's a really tough game -- getting into college. You need something that helps set you apart."

archive