The best years of your life, according to legend, are those spent in school. This is true especially for IB students. Why? Because it is a time when they learn to align time constraints with increasing workloads, internal assessments, core components and of course sleepless nights! But, what truly makes IB unique is its emphasis on learning outside of the classroom. This learning comes from a wide variety of extra-curricular activities, community service and athletic pursuits as a part of the course.
Yes, grades are important. But we must not forget that extracurricular activities allow colleges to see the real you. You can meet new people and learn new skills by participating in extracurricular activities. Colleges are more interested in getting to know an individual as a person, rather than a test score. Extracurricular activities show a more intimate side of an individual.
So what do IB schools focus on to nurture well rounded individuals:
- Create. Innovate: IB schools love your creative streak! Why? Students can be more creative and learn new things if they have the right combination of imagination and curriculum. In reality, a student's emotional growth is aided by creative expression. Performance Arts, Culinary Arts, Literary Art are examples of unleashing the creative genius in you.
- No couch potatoes: 'Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it'. Plato Learning teamwork, building courage, and honing the competitive spirit are all important aspects of school life. The Big idea here is to focus on health and wellbeing. IB schools prioritize sporting activities with the end goal of inculcating health and fitness as a way of life.
- Tech all the way: International schools encourage activities that promote personal development, leadership, and learning in the fields of technology, creativity, design, and engineering. Via hands-on experiences, members implement and incorporate STEM principles. They apply classroom learnt theories to develop mobile apps, design drones and even build robots!
- MUN Club: A Model United Nations (MUN) is a simulation of the United Nations designed to teach current events, foreign relations, diplomacy, and international agendas. The primary goal of this club is to engage students in international topics of discussion while also allowing them to hone their public speaking, research, writing, critical thinking, and negotiation skills. As students, many of today's leaders in law, government, industry, and the arts – including those at the United Nations – took part in Model UN.
- Foreign Languages Club: IB as a curriculum focuses on international mindedness. This is one of the main reasons why a second language forms an integral part of the curriculum. The Foreign Languages Club is a place where language students can practice their skills outside of the classroom, in real-life scenarios. It promotes intercultural and conceptual understanding which is the basis of the Language Acquisition programme.
- TedEd Club: TED-Ed Clubs are designed to create a generation of creative problem-solvers around the globe. The TED-Ed Student Talks Programme assists students in discovering, exploring, and presenting their big ideas through brief, TED-style talks.
The IB learner profile is designed to foster a value system that leads to the creation of learners who are both academically prepared and are active members of their local, national, and global communities. Extracurricular activities play a dynamic role in the student evolution and the development of this learner profile. On a whole, they intend to create and inculcate all 21st century skills. The future of education is student centric learning-learning that no pandemic can halt, that no virus can kill, that doesn’t mask up!
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